


The Redeeming Qualities of a Fuckboy

by Viktaruuu112



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Anal Sex, Angst with a Happy Ending, Beaches, Camboy Lotor, College Parties, Dirty Talk, Drinking Games, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Falling In Love, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Getting Together, Grinding, Interrupted Sex, M/M, Making Out, Making Up, Masturbation, Mattor, Mutual Pining, Oral Sex, Phone Sex, Pining, Recorded Sex, Sharing a Bed, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, Slut Shaming, Smut, house mates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2019-04-20 02:21:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 27,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14250978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Viktaruuu112/pseuds/Viktaruuu112
Summary: “Is he even gay?”“Please tell me you’re not talking about Matt.” Shiro pulls three mugs from the cabinet above the coffee machine.“Yes, I’m talking about Matt.”“Are you suggesting that because Matt isn’t openly into you that he must not be into men?”Lotor sighs, “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”“Matt doesn't go for shallow.”“You think I’m shallow?” Lotor freezes and watches them make breakfast of black coffee and burned toast.“Lotor… dude, do we have to have this discussion every week.”Matt and Lotor's worlds meet for the first time since starting college. Lotor has quite a risque reputation and makes a name for himself, but maybe this fuckboy isn't half bad?





	1. Chapter 1

_It’s nasty, it’s dirt. This shit ain’t safe for work. I said no shoes, no shirt. This shit ain’t safe for work._

The repetitive hypnotic beat of a song he’s never heard booms through the cafeteria.

The sexiest image of glistening purple skin under the stretch of tiny, thin white mesh shorts and nothing else swings its hips on the screen in front of him. The longest, most luxurious, wavy, white hair Matt’s ever seen cascades down the back of the young man, over his shoulders. The sheer sex exuding from the swing of hips makes even him stop and stare. He’s tall, slender, and toned in all the most perfect places.

The mesmerizing thrum continues, blaring as loud as possible. By the sound of the alerts over walkie-talkies from the security guard standing at the front entrance of the cafeteria, it must be in playing every room in the school. 

The scene changes. It’s still him, the purple-skinned modelesque creature but he’s sandwiched between a man and a woman, the image shows them from the waist up only. And there are some very not safe for work things happening.

_It’s nasty, it’s dirt. This shit ain’t safe for work. I said no shoes, no shirt. This shit ain’t safe for work._

A phone number flashes slowly on the bottom of the screen and the drooling image of softcore porn in the background fades just enough for words to appear on the screen. 

 

Film Student for Hire. 

Soft/hardcore pornos   
Dance sequences (sexy)  
Nightclubs ect.   
Xxx-xxx-xxxx 

 

The ad stays displayed just as the purple-skinned guy appears to cum on screen (or at least makes the right face and sounds to depict an orgasm) and the screens suddenly fade to black.

Matt, along with the other students in the cafeteria, stands in absolute silence, mouths gaping at the black-screen like they were hoping the images were still there. A few whoops and hollers echo through the huge room and break his focus. With a groan of frustration, he realizes he’s dropped his lunch tray.

This is Matt’s first impression of Lotor, the Dean’s son. Later to be known as the school’s ‘Prince’. But he doesn’t know why they call him that.

He makes a mental checklist and files it away for later, hoping to come back from the throbbing in his skull from the incessant beat of the techno blaring over erotic images.

Lotor:  
Possible Fuckboy ✓  
Exhibitionist? ✓  
Creative ✓  
Daring ✓  
Absolutely Gorgeous ✓

 

Lotor doesn’t get expelled, obviously. Being the Dean’s son has its perks.

And to get this to broadcast on every screen on campus?

 

-

 

“Dammit, Pidge, I know that was you.”

Pidge is huddled over her monitors, pushing the end of a cheeto puff into her mouth with a single finger. It’s dark in her messy cave of a room where she almost never sleeps. The only light is the bright green peeking through the buttons on her keyboards and the tiny stream of lights trailing the edges of her computer. “What?”

“Don’t ‘What?’ me. The ad. The fucking, porno. Everyone saw it.”

She just shrugs, “Everyone’s for hire, Matt.”

He mulls over her words as he leans his back against the door frame and hears the crunch of another cheeto sliding in between her teeth.

She’s right, in some way, shape, or form everyone is for hire. But damn, he didn’t know she’d be so ballsy. Her computers were well encrypted so it would never be traced back to her.

He grins despite himself, “How much did he pay you?”

He can’t see the grin she makes, but he can feel it, “Let’s just say I’ll be drinking Starbucks every day for the rest of my life.”

“You drink coffee every day already, Pidge.”

“Not a Venti extra hot 8-shot soy latte.” She crunches on another chip and that’s when Matt’s eyes focus enough to see the already-pile of empty coffee cups in the corner of her room overflowing from the trash can.

Damn.


	2. Chapter 2

“Shiro! Keith!” Matt calls out through the house after letting himself in. “I know it’s only 4 pm but I need alcohol!” 

It’s Friday. Classes are done for the week and if he goes back to his dorm all he’s going to see is his damn project staring him in the face. 

Yeah, not happening today. 

He slips his shoes off by the front door and swings it closed with a thud. After shrugging his bag from his shoulders he drops like a heavy weight onto the couch.

He hears the sound of the refrigerator opening and closing. “Shiro?”

A few quest moments later, a pleasant voice leaks into his ears and lowers a bottle of beer in front of his face, “Not Shiro.” 

Matt takes it and turns to look at the bearer of this wonderful gift.

“Hey… Aren’t you porno guy?”

He laughs, “I have many names.”

Matt lightly takes the bottle in front of his face, “Like?”

“Lotor.”

He nods, “Matt.”

Lotor sits on a couch adjacent to the one Matt’s reclining on.

“So, did you like it?” Lotor pulls his buzzing phone from his pocket 

“What?”

“The ad.”

“Oh. It was very, um… brave?”

Lotor laughs lightly at that, “I guess I’ll say thank you.”

“If I were a different man I’d collect a stipend from you for hiring my sister to do your dirty work.”

“Your sister?”

“The gremlin. I was the one who taught her how to do that.”

“Ah... But you weren’t for hire.“

“No. I wasn’t.”

Lotor’s phone vibrates again in his hand.

“Are those responses to your ad?”

 

Lotor scrolls through a list of new text messages that he’ll respond to in due time. “It seems people don’t know know what they want till they see it.”

 

Several hours and several drinks later, Matt is KO’d stomach down on an oversized bean bag chair in the corner of the room. Lotor is laid out on the couch with a hand over his eyes, groaning something about being sleepy, but the night is still early. And somewhere along the way, he lost his shirt.

Pidge and hunk are the last ones left in a dumb drinking game they thought was a good idea. Somehow, Pidge can really hold her liquor. Hunk blames his own abilities on the delicious crispy ham he baked the night before which also apparently made for a killer panini.

Matt feels his mouth watering for something hot and crispy.

“Huuuuuuuuunk… I want fried chicken.”

“Oh, fuck yes!” Shiro pipes up from his place on the floor. Keith leans against him with a video game controller in his hand, somehow still conscious enough to play a game, badly, but he still thinks he’s doing great.

“Chicken!” Lotor raises a fist in the air.

Matt and Shiro join in. Soon they’re all chanting, “Chicken! Chicken! Chicken!” Until Hunk caves and rushes the kitchen to make sure he has ingredients. He does. They all cheer. Pidge takes it as a victory and bows in front of them. 

Matt points and laughs at her, “My little sister! How dare you be good at drinking games. That is… irresponsible of me.”

“You’re the one that tapped out three shots in! That’s what’s irresponsible.”

“That’s all I needed!” Matt makes the ‘OK’ symbol with his hand, “I’m… gooooood.”

Lotor agrees with him, “You’re so good. Very good, Mr. Matt. You know what,” Lotor points an aimless finger in the air, “I would do you… so good.”

“I only have one motto, Mr. Porno Guy. ‘Never fuck a fuck boy.’”

Lotor slurs as best as he can, “I’m no fuck boy... But I sure can fuck you, boy.”

Shiro loses it in a fit of giggles on the floor near the couch.

A grin spreads across Lotor’s face that he can’t help. He’s really damn funny sometimes.

And he continues, ‘You have…” his brow furrows in almost confusion as he tries to articulate his words, “such a nice ass.”

“Listennn…” Matt squints at him, “Are you drunk right now?”

Keith laughs, “We are all drunk right now!”

“Go home, Matt you’re drunk!” Pidge yells from the dining table.

Keith agrees, “Drunk!”

Matt responds, “I’m… not very drunk.”

“Me either,” Lotor murmurs from the couch mere seconds before he passes out.

The noises from Keith’s video game sound in the silence and mix with noises of popping oil from the kitchen. Shiro starts snoring on the floor next to him. His shirt is pulled up over his belly button and his hair flips back away from his face like a cockatoo. Keith puts a gentle hand on Shiro’s chest as he admires the view, “I’m so gay.”

Matt reaches over as far as he can to fistbump Keith for his comment, but he’s farther away than he thought, so his fist just hovers in the air.

Pidge yells from the table, “Matt, what are you trying to fist?!”

Matt drops his arm, “What?! Nothing! Don’t say it like that!”

“Fisting…” Keith laughs with his face behind his hands.

“Stop talking about fisting! Hunk! Come save me please!”

Matt falls asleep before the chicken is even done cooking and wakes up to a gnarly pain in his neck. But somehow, it was worth it.


	3. Chapter 3

Matt bursts into the house after dark. 

He drags his feet and halfheartedly waves at Hunk and Pidge who have taken residence in the living room for video games before pouring himself a shot of vodka and drinks it fast before reaching for a beer. He seems to do this almost every Friday as the hectic stress from the week fizzled out and left him with the burnt end of a frazzled wire.

He waves through the kitchen window at Shiro who seems to be cooking something on the grill outside and receives an excited wave from Keith who has his feet in the pool.

He plops face down onto the great oversized bean bag chair and closes his eyes. He’s still kicking himself for not moving in with them at the beginning of the semester. Though his reasoning was valid; He wouldn’t get anything done. Ever. His friends were too much fun.

‘You ok?” Lotor joins him in the living room and sits with the video game running in front of them. He props his legs up on the couch and balances his laptop on the top of his thighs. He removes an earbud and lets it hang from the wire.

“Fuuuuuuuuuuuucccccccckkkk I’m so stressed out.” 

“Is it your projec-”

“No talk about the project.” Matt rubs his eyes and groans. 

“If you want a distraction, I could show you my project,” Lotor wiggles his brows for a second before Matt grunts.

“I can only imagine what you’re working on…”

“Oh, you don’t have to imagine. It’s sex. Everyone’s naked, they’re fucking doggy style outsi-”

“Wha!!!”

Pidge turns her head slightly back to them, “His films are actually very tastefully done, considering the content. Stop being such a virgin.”

Matt buries his head in the sticky flesh of the bean bag.

Lotor laughs and closes his computer.

“Well, I don’t have any plans for the night. We should play a game!”

After discarding his laptop to the coffee table, Lotor jumps up and goes to their game closet. “Ok, drinking or no?”

Keith and Matt both answer, ‘Drinking!’

Ten minutes later Matt, Shiro, and Lotor have downed a shot for each question they lose on ‘Never Have I Ever’. The reader picks up a card, reads the prompt. If you are exempt from having done said thing, you are safe for a turn. Matt’s two shots in, Keith has had one, and Shiro is down for three.

Pidge abandons Hunk and their video game and heads out for the night, waving goodnight to everyone before she shuts the door.

Matt picks up the next card and pats his chest to get rid of a hiccup, “Ok. ‘Never have I ever had sex in a public place.’”

Everyone except for Matt takes a shot.

‘What!? Seriously guys?”

“I guess you’re the only one,” Lotor grins at him.

“Where?”

Keith answers, “Under the bleachers.”

Shiro makes a list out of his fingers, “And at the gym… in the chem lab…”

“The old library.”

“Ok, Ok…. Damn, I get it.”

“Swimming pool…”

“Me too,” Lotor laughs and high fives Shiro from across the table.

Lotor then picks up a card for his turn. “Never have I ever cross-dressed.”

Matt and Keith take a shot.

Lotor raises his eyebrow at Matt, “Ok, spill.”

But Keith talks for him, “When they were younger, Pidge and Matt were almost identical.”

“She bullied me sometimes…”

They laugh at his confession.

“Hey, my ass looks damn good in a skirt.”

Lotor's heart skips a beat at the severe mental image, but he doesn't let it show. “I’d love to see that,” Lotor winks at him.

Keith picks up the next card. “Never have I ever thought a cartoon character was hot.”

They all drink to that.

Their faces start to flush at different intervals as they drink and tell embarrassing stories. Keith goes down first, laying in Shiro’s lap and tries to fall asleep. He whines for ice cream which Shiro scoops for him into a bowl and plays with his hair while he maneuvers spoonfulls of strawberry into his mouth. Matt lays his face on the cool table, trying to maintain some sort of sober feeling as the alcohol dulls his brain and relaxes his muscles. How many shots had he taken?

He hadn’t even realized Lotor left his seat, but he returns with two glasses of orange juice and sets one down in front of Matt.

“Here. Drink. It’ll help you feel better.”

“Mmm… I’m drunk.”

Lotor smiles, “I can see that.” He brushes the mop of hair covering Matt’s eyes back away from his face. “It’s late.”

“Mhm…”

Keith practically passes out at the table.

“Uh… goodnight guys. Gonna get this one to bed before he starts crying…” But Keith is already crying, sniffling as he hangs onto Shiro muttering about how cute he is. “He does this every time…” He hoists Keith’s arm over his shoulder and drags him up the stairs.

“Night,” Matt calls after them and manages to raise his head wondering if the world is going to start spinning. It doesn’t, so he takes a drink of the juice and sighs when the sweetness hits his bitter-abused taste buds.

“Do you want to sleep?”

“Mm.. yes. I’ll crash on the couch.”

Matt gets up and leaves the table to find Hunk dead asleep on the couch that’s supposed to be his. Well, there’s a comfy looking bean bag chair.

Even though he’s drunk and his senses are dulled, it turns out it’s not so comfy.

He finds Lotor standing over him with his hand outstretched, “Come on. Upstairs.”

Matt squints at him, “I’m not falling for that.”

“I’m not trying to fuck you,” Lotor smiles and rolls his eyes, “Come on, I’ve got a California king.”

Matt keeps staring through lowered eyelids.

“It’s better than the beanbag chair, yeah?” 

Matt turns and super focuses on the oversized hacky sack beneath him and glares at the pearly lumps underneath the thin plasticy fabric. Hunk blesses them a wonderfully loud snore.

Matt takes hold of his hand, “Fine.”

Upstairs, Lotor tosses him a change of clothes and turns the overhead light off leaving a small dim lamp beside his bed lit. Then he goes along with his evening routine of getting ready for bed. He sits by his bedside table and plugs his phone into the charger. He scrolls through and sets an alarm for the morning. After setting his phone down on the small table he gathers his hair over his shoulder and weaves it into a loose braid. It’s long and reaches to his hip before he ties off the end with a thick band.

“It gets tangled…”

“It’s cute.”

Lotor...blushes? and carefully slides under the covers.

The room is cold and quiet. It’s...actually really peaceful. Matt throws precaution to the wind and changes into the oversized t-shirt and relaxes at the feel of cold, soft fabric against his alcohol-warmed skin. The shorts are too big so he just sticks with the boxers he’s already wearing and joins Lotor on the other side of the bed. It’s huge. And the sheets are silky smooth. The blanket is just heavy enough to cloud him in comfy coolness and the pillow behind him is so fluffy he thinks he could die.

“Holy shit… fuck! Your bed is comfy!” Matt can tell he sounds drunk, but what do drunk people do? They ramble anyway.

“My bed… isn’t nearly this great. What the fuck do I gotta do to get a bed like this? Is this real silk or something? Everyone always uses the word ‘silky’ to describe things but like? Is it?”

Lotor laughs lightly and turns to look at him. He looks like a sheep. Bundled up completely in the plush white comforter up to his ears. His face peeks out from the cover of white.

“It’s Egyptian cotton.”

“Oh. Fuck me, rich guy…” He says this in exasperation, but, “Wait. No. Not... Don’t get any ideas.”

Lotor sighs, “I know what you meant, little sheep.”

“Sheep?”

Lotor just smiles at him. The little blush on Matt’s cheeks completes the look.

The stillness of cold, cozy quiet settles over them and Lotor feels himself drifting.

“Hey… why aren’t you drunk too?” Matt slurs his words.

Lotor opens his eyes just enough to see the lamp is still illuminated. He reaches up and flips the switch. “I have to say the alcohol is on top of me a little, but it usually just makes me tired.”

“Hm..”

“Goodnight, little sheep.”

“Goodnight, Mr. Prince.”

The stillness of his cold bedroom is usually enough to hypnotize him into a quick, restful slumber, but the thrum of his heart is somehow more obnoxious than usual.

“Hey… why does everyone call you ‘Prince’?”

Lotor shrugs lightly under the blankets. “Dunno… maybe it’s my dad’s money…He’s sort of a ‘ruler’ if you look at it a certain way. Or maybe it’s all the charisma.” 

“Well.. I think,” Matt takes a deep breath and lets it out loudly before he continues, “It’s because you’re really really nice. You’re like… super nice.”

Lotor can only smile, “Thank you,” he whispers, but Matt is already out cold.


	4. Chapter 4

“Hey, Matt!” Lotor smiles brightly and waves when he crosses paths with Matt on campus. 

Matt glances at him, gives a small smile and an even smaller wave, and continues walking.

The first time this happens, Lotor is confused. Didn’t we play games and get drunk together? Didn’t we talk and joke? Didn’t we share a bed? 

It happens two more times that week. Once in the cafeteria in the food line, and two days later when Matt passes Lotor and his group of gorgeous individuals sitting in the park.

He feels like Matt is the only person that isn’t fawning over him and it’s driving him crazy.

He was used to that instant adrenaline boost that came with someone openly having a crush on him. He was attractive, rich, talented, absolutely charming. But Matt was… not affected.

“Is he…”

Shiro stands in front of the coffee pot in their kitchen as it slowly drips liquid gold into the waiting pitcher. The gray and white of their kitchen glows softly with the morning light coming through the windows. Lotor sits at the table, head in his hands. His hair is still in its braid from the night, though half of it falls in messy waves out of the plaits.

“Is he what?”

“Is he even gay?”

“Please tell me you’re not talking about Matt.” Shiro pulls three mugs from the cabinet above the coffee machine.

“Yes, I’m talking about Matt.”

“He’s… I think he’s bi? I’ve never actually seen him with a girl though.” Shiro answers.

“Have you seen him with a guy?”

“Are you suggesting that because Matt isn’t openly into you that he must not be into men?”

Lotor sighs, “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“Matt doesn't go for shallow,” Keith waits by the toaster as it slowly burns his bread. Butter waits on the knife in his hand and he keeps an eye on the steam rising from the device. 

Shiro practically jumps over to him and clicks the ‘cancel’ button, watching as his heavily browned toast pops from the slots. Keith looks at him fondly.

“Babe… you can’t leave the bread in there that long… it’ll burn.”

“You think I’m shallow?” Lotor freezes and watches them make breakfast of black coffee and burned toast.

“Lotor… dude, do we have to have this discussion every week.”

“Wait…”

Shallow.

Ouch.

Did Matt really see him that way?

“Do you really think he thinks I’m shallow?”

Keith talks around a well-buttered bite, “Well, upon meeting you for the first time, you literally told him you would ‘fuck him so good’ and he rejected you… or maybe he ignored that fact. Anyway, I believe he even used the term ‘fuckboy’.”

Shiro takes a gulp of too-hot coffee and doesn’t even flinch, but he nods at Keith’s words.

The biggest pout in human history plasters itself to his face. Lotor feels like he’s going to cry.

“Look don’t be such a drama queen,” Shiro’s hand meets his shoulder which has a wonderful calming effect, “With Matt… just… you need to be direct. He can be very… in his own mind? He’s an astrophysics major… he’s got a lot going on. But… don’t be ‘direct’ direct. Just… be his friend.”

 

“Friend…”

 

Lotor mulls over his words, but he still feels grumpy about it all day. 

When the initial grumpiness fades, he ponders their words and feels increasingly bothered by it.

He’s never felt so absolutely shallow.

It feels like every cocky, embarrassing thing he’s ever said in public is mocking him. He spends most of the day lost in his head, truly thinking of his demeanor. He’s never really given much thought to how other people see him, and it’s starting to drive him crazy. He slips under the covers early that night and curls up in his cold sheets.

 

Tuesday turns out to be the best day of the week. 

Lotor finds Matt sitting at a table alone as he stands in line at the cafe. There are two coffee cups on his table, a laptop, and a ratty notebook in his lap. His hair is disheveled, but just slightly. From the outside, it looks stylishly messy on purpose, but to Lotor’s eye, he can see that Matt’s exhausted.

Half circles sit like lavender moons under the skin below his eyes, and his foot taps slowly on the tile, almost, but not quite in rhythm as he types. White headphone wires string from his ears. The dark gray wide-neck t-shirt hangs attractively over his collarbones and shows off an appealing slender angle of his neck.

When Lotor reaches the counter, he gives a charming smile and leans forward to the barista.

“This is going to sound very strange, but do you know what that guy is drinking?” He gestures to Matt.

“Uh…” The girl stares at the hair cascading over his shoulder, “Who?”

“The cute redhead.” He points.

“Oh… Um?”

A different barista with a black hat and a dark button-up shirt comes to her rescue, “He just has a regular coffee. I saw him put cinnamon and cream in it after he got it. Nothing fancy.”

“Hmm… Give me two of those then. Please. With two shots of espresso and a bit of vanilla.”

Lotor pays for the drinks and waits patiently at the end of the bar until they’re done.

The barista steams the cream for him before putting it in his coffee, and that makes it so much more delicious.

Lotor feels his feet moving awkwardly like he’s balancing on stilts as he makes his way to Matt’s quiet corner, bag slung over his shoulders and stops in front of the table.

Matt doesn't notice him, eyes glued to the screen.

The hard paper of the cup makes a small sound when it hits the table and Lotor leans down to sit when Matt finally notices him. He rips the white earbuds out and gives him a very quick look over. Lotor can tell Matt was lost to reality.

“Hi.”

“Good morning,” Lotor gives a signature smile at him, but with hints of blush he can’t hide. The surge of giddiness pulses in his fingertips and settles in his belly, “Is this seat available?”

“No. Yes, I mean. Yes. Sorry, I thought you were going to ask, ‘is this seat taken’ and it’s not.”

Lotor laughs a short, small burst of air under his breath and smiles. He pulls the chair out and sits down. He takes the stopper from the lid of his drink and presses his lips to the rim.

Friends.

“This one’s for you.” He gestures to the large double-cupped drink in between them.

Matt stares at it like it’s gold.

“Shit… thank you! Oh my god, you have literally saved me!” Matt carefully takes the lid and sets it down on the table upside down. White foam sticks to the lid and he ignores the urge to lick it off. He goes straight to the rim of the paper cup and sips the hot drink through his lips.

His eyes widen and he licks his lips, “This is good.”

Lotor smiles and nods, “I thought you could use a little boost.” He notices crumbs and a crumbled up pastry bag on the seat next to him, remnants of what was a buttered croissant. “How long have you been here?” 

“Since late-hours ended at the library.”

Lotor’s eyes roll upward as if he’s searching for an invisible ‘hours’ list for the library in his head.

Matt fills in the detail he’s looking for, “Since 4:30 am.”

“What? 4:30 am? And before that? Did you sleep at all?”

Matt shakes his head and leans his head in his hand after he takes another sip of the hot coffee, “Do I look that bad?”

“You look… eh…” Lotor takes another drink. The steamed cream and vanilla swirl over his tongue, “Matt, my dear, you look exhausted.”

Matt’s hands rub over his eyes and he pushes his hair back away from his face revealing his forehead. Lotor likes the way it looks and imagines pushing the hair away from his face with his own hands. He wonders how the red strands would feel beneath his touch.

“Well,” Matt sighs, “I am exhausted.”

“Do you wanna skip today? I’ll take the day off with you.”

Matt seriously considers it, and signs when the pressing responsibility weighs over his head, “No… I can’t. Thanks for the invite though.” Matt starts gathering his belongings. He shuts his laptop, curls the headphone wire around itself and puts it into an open pocket in his bag.

“You have to go now?”

“Yeah…. 9 am class.”

“Oh.. Same actually,” Lotor stands, “We could walk together? Where is your class?”

“Science building.”

“Oh! Great, I’m heading that direction too.”

Lotor helps him discard the old coffee cups on the table that were there when he arrived and holds the door for him when they leave the coffee shop.

Lotor supplies idle chatter about the weather as they walk, and Matt nods in agreement. ‘Yes, it does look like it’s going to rain.’ ‘No I don’t think class will be canceled.’

Matt turns to walk up the gray stone steps into the science building and raises the cup in his hand as a goodbye, “Thanks for the coffee again.”

Lotor raises his free hand in a small wave, “You’re welcome. Have a good class. Get some sleep!” He raises his voice louder as Matt moves farther and farther away from him, “Well you know, not in class! But, later! A nap maybe!” 

Matt’s nodding and shooing him away as he sneaks slowly through the glass doors and disappears completely.

Lotor pulls out his phone and eyes the clock. Shit. 10 minutes till class starts. 

He almost felt bad for lying to Matt. His class was not near the science building, it was across campus. It wasn’t his fault he just wanted to spend a little more time with the redhead. Okay, maybe it was. And honest to God, he would start running, but the coffee in hand is still mostly full, and he didn’t want to ruin his hair today.

He took another sip before he started the leisurely stroll across campus. He was just going to have to be late. But a grin stitched itself to his face. What a wonderful morning.


	5. Chapter 5

Lotor never considered himself to be a serious person. 

He’d never been ‘serious’ with anyone, taking preference of the occasional one night stand over the monogamy of a one-on-one relationship. It was less complicated that way. 

There had never been a shortage of people for Lotor to choose from, but...

“You are pining so hard.” Shiro shovels a spoonful of his pina colada snow cone into his mouth and crunches on the tiny shards of ice before they have the chance to melt.

Lotor, only barely managing to rip his eyes from Matt’s ass as he walks away gawks in embarrassment, “I am not pining.”

“You literally just called him ‘ginger snap’... and winked to see if he would blush.”

Lotor stares open-mouthed at him.

“Shiro knows this because he used to do that shit to me all the time before we started dating,” Keith noisily sucks the melted cherry syrup from the bottom of his cup through a fat straw, “Still does, actually.” He grins and looks on fondly as his boyfriend smiles around his cheap plastic spoon.

Lotor flips his sunglasses down to shield his eyes from the blazing sun and reclines back in his plastic chair. “How dare you call me out on my bullshit.”

He watches Matt order at the little snow cone shack in front of the gorgeous backdrop of sparkling blue waves and rainbow umbrellas lined symmetrically along the beach. The breeze is just right. It cools the sweat from their skin before they can get too sticky.

Shiro follows his gaze and watches his friend stretch his arm lazily as he waited in line, “It’s not bullshit.” 

It had been about a week since the cafe, and even longer since Matt had shared his bed and Lotor couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was only sleeping, which had been refreshing in contrast to his usual escapades. Which, if he thought about it, had been less and less recently, and had stopped altogether after Matt shared his room. After their morning date at the cafe, he couldn’t even remember why he hung out with half of the people that gravitated towards him. Everyone else paled in comparison.

There had been a few nights where he smothered his face in the pillow that Matt had used in his bed. There were only faint traces of a scent that wasn’t his. It was so faint Lotor wondered if it was only his imagination.

He put a loose hand under his chin and tried not to pout too much.

Matt’s alcohol-slurred words replayed in his head, ‘Never fuck a fuckboy.’

Ok, that was fair.

He had his fair share of casual sex. He never considered himself a ‘fuckboy’, but he knew that was the energy he gave off. Lotor enjoyed sex. Having it, recording it, directing it. The films he created made good money, and he considered himself lucky to be able to turn a hobby into a job.

He wanted to get closer to Matt, understand the boundaries but was scared to be pushed away. And he wasn’t even sure if there was a part of him that ever wished to settle down, but something about Matt gave him a longing for some kind of domesticity. It felt like for the first time it wasn’t a one-night-stand he longed for. A part of him felt like he’d always want a little more and more until Matt consumed him entirely. 

But Matt was busy. Always. He rarely saw the guy. His schooling kept him from visiting the house most of the time, but when he did visit it was always fun. And each time there was some kind of magnetic force pulling his focus to Matt every time he came near. 

And there was no end to how much thought there was regarding Matt’s adorable, quiet attractiveness. 

Matt moved gracefully. But what was so spellbinding was how unaware of it he was. And his laugh tugged at Lotor’s heartstrings in a way that made him want to spoil him rotten to make sure he was always laughing. That would make him happy.

And something Lotor was realizing, by Shiro’s advice, was there was a step in between ‘hello’ and ‘let’s fuck’, and he was skirting the edge of it. 

“It’s all so confusing,” He counters quietly.

He eyed Matt standing in front of the snow cone shack and watched as he leaned to the side with his arms crossed waiting for his order. The rolling waves behind him stilled before crashing onto the shore. The sun reflected on the surface like white sparks spraying up from the center of a sparkler that was the entire ocean.

Struck with inspiration, Lotor kicks his flip-flops onto the squishy sand beneath him and leans over to unzip his bag.

“Lotor, put that thing away. Now is not the time.”

 

Lotor’s pride and joy is revealed from the sturdy, plush camera bag and he uncaps the lens, careful to slip his hand through the strap so he doesn’t drop it and turns it on with a tiny beeping sound.

“Calm your virgin ass down, Kogane. It’s not what you think.”

Shiro is the only one who laughs, “What the hell are you doing, Lotor?”

“Something new.” Lotor props the camera onto his empty seat and flips the view screen toward him to check the angles. He moves to the side slightly adjust it and presses record. 

In the distance, Matt has just been handed a dark blue snow cone in a white styrofoam cup and drops his leftover change into the tip jar before taking a healthy bite from the sharp point of ice.

Lotor laughs and takes off into a sprint running full speed at poor, oblivious Matt. He slows just enough to safely scoop Matt up in his arms princess style, knocking the snowcone hard from his grip and runs them into the crashing, foamy waves of the ocean. Matt’s initial shock is soon replaced with giggles and ice cold ocean water completely envelops them.

Lotor somehow manages to emerge first and has the mind to splash Matt in the face with salt water, then laughs at the wild hair stuck out from the side of his head. When Lotor’s eyes are squeezed closed in laughter Matt tackles him, pushing him straight into a rolling wave and watches in his own laughter as it knocks him completely off balance and swallows him.

The white foam of the ocean frosts his deep purple skin when he emerges from the waves.

Matt doubles over in laughter at the long strands of white hair wrapped around his face and shoulders, clinging tightly to him with the water soaking his skin.

“What the hell?” But he still laughs.

“You, my dear, we're stuck inside your own head. I took it upon myself to bring you back down to the present.” A wave crashes into Lotor’s hip and he loses his balance again in the water.

Matt takes a deep breath and composes himself just long enough to say, “You owe me a snow cone.”

“If you’d let me, I’d repay you with ten snow cones-” Lotor gathers as much of his own wet hair as he can between his hands and wrings it out into the water, “Twenty even. Actually, let’s have dinner instead.”

Matt wrings out the edge of his shirt, “Ok. Sure, whatever, but I still want a damn cotton candy snow cone.”

“Cotton candy?! That’s just sugar flavored sugar, you heathen!”

He watches as Lotor reluctantly makes his way out of the water to the snow cone stand. Though he can’t hide the smile pulling hard at the corners of his mouth.

“Make it a large!”

 

Later when the sun is close to setting and the last few beach-goers are packing up and going home, Lotor, Matt, Shiro, and Keith make one more trek into the water and bathe in the sun’s reflection on the surface of the waves.

Matt floats on the water during a lull in the waves and lets the ocean fill his ears, muffling the laughter he hears from Shiro and Keith struggling to pull each other under. It’s peaceful. The quiet, muffled echo of bubbles and moving water in his ears brings him complete mental quiet.

He suddenly feels strong arms brush under his back and under his knees, they cradle him and lift his body upward just as a large wave threatens to crest over him.

After the wave rolls past and the water settles back into stillness, Lotor lets him resume his place on the calm of the water, still holding him gently, “I uh… thought the saltwater might burn if it got into your nose. I didn’t want to see you go under like that.”

“Thanks…” 

“Sorry,” Lotor lets him go.

“No,’s ok.” Matt sighs with his eyes closed, “It’s so...peaceful.”

Lotor takes the time to survey the area, the orange and pink glow on the water, the lack of crowds of people playing on the sand and takes a deep breath of air. It fills the deepest parts of his lungs and he sinks down into the water to float next to Matt.

“Peaceful…” Lotor agrees.

The sky is a bursting palette of orange, pink and red. Bright yellows and whites line the edges of huge billowy clouds above them on the backdrop of a deep blue.

“Matt… 

“...Yes?” His voice is simple, prompting him to continue.

He can’t believe he’s about to say it. What, is he in kindergarten? Is this really about to come out of his mouth? “Can we be friends?”

A small wave pushes a swatch of hair into Matt’s eyes, he moves it before he responds, “Aren’t we?”

“Friends of mutual friends.”

Lotor listens to the slip of water into his ears.

“What’s the difference?”

“There’s a difference,” Lotor watches the peach clouds creep across the sky, “There’s ‘friends’ and then you know there are ‘friends’ and then there’s ‘acquaintances by proxy’...” Lotor holds his breath.

“...Ok.”

“Ok?”

“Yeah. We can be friends.”

Lotor can’t hide his grin. He feels bubbles inside his stomach and he can’t stop himself from reaching out to grab Matt’s hand in the water, squeezing it.

“Is that something that friends do now?” Matt teases him, but he allows his hand to be held.

Lotor laughs, “Sure. Why not?”

Matt mutters to himself, realizing a happy thought he’s never had before, “...Why not?” Matt squeezes Lotor’s fingers as they float.


	6. Beach Trip: part 1

The warmish wind blows in through the open windows of Pidge’s Range Rover and whips Matt’s hair around his face. He’d long given up taking the energy to brush it from his eyes after the first ten minutes of their drive as it constantly whipped itself out from behind his ears. His sunglasses at least blocked the wild strands from sticking to his eyes. 

Pidge lead the caravan to the coast for the weekend. Lotor’s father had generously allowed them to use the family beach house for a short camping trip.

Was it even camping if they didn’t sleep in tents? Matt couldn’t care less. He was glad to get away from the tedious details of his project for a few days. He’d have double the work to do when he got back, but the R&R was much needed.

Matt had answered Shiro’s call after a long night of not sleeping and accepted the invitation for a group getaway immediately. Volleyball and beach sunsets? He was hungry for it. He wasn’t even about to ask, “Didn’t we just go to the beach last weekend?” You could never have enough beach trips.

Hunk and Lance sat in the back seat jamming to some song they made up on the way there. It wasn’t even a long drive, but here they were, singing a tune that would forever get stuck in Matt’s head.

Pidge read his mind and turned to their favorite music station and blasted it over the sound of their voices.

“Ok, but Why are we listening to Arctic Monkeys in this heat? There’s nothing Arctic about it.” Lance grumbled.

“What do you have against Arctic Monkeys?!” Matt and Pidge exclaimed in unison before high fiving in the front seat and took their turn to sing obnoxiously loud out the open windows.

The beach was crowded as hell as they drove along the coast.

“Pidge, do you know where you’re going?”

“Uhh. Tha Beach?”

Matt’s phone rang as he was processing the level of sass coming from her mouth and his heart jumped annoyingly in his chest when he read the name on the screen.

He answered, “Hey, Lotor.”

Pidge waggled her eyebrows at him and he turned away from her to hide his expression.

“Matthew,” Matt blushes at the deep sound of his voice, “Does Pidge know where she’s going?”

“That’s what I just asked!” Pidge glares at him.

Lotor laughs, “Tell her to slow down so we can pass her and you guys can follow us the rest of the way.”

Pidge does, begrudgingly, and Shiro passes them in his car with Keith in the passenger seat and Lotor’s camera angled at them from the back window. Soon they make it to an empty portion of the coast next to the most luxurious, beautiful white beach house Matt’s ever laid eyes on. Near the far edge of the coast is a cliff topped with trees and rocks and hills. The ground slowly gradients from fluffy sand to pebbles and boulders close to the treeline.

The doors and windows of the house are open letting white sheer curtains flow in the breeze. The inside of the house is lit with cool sunlight.

Matt steps through the door and leaves his shoes outside, careful not to make a single blemish on the beautifully clean house. 

Lotor, Shiro, and Keith all carry their supplies and backpacks into the house. Lotor has a backpack over his shoulders and a large drink cooler in his arms, “Ahh… Welcome to the bungalow.”

Matt drops his own bag near the couch, “Thanks for having us.” 

Lance immediately makes his home on the couch and stretches out over it. Hunk admires the kitchen and all of its appliances.

“Thanks for coming,” Lotor smiles.

“What should we do first?” Pidge drops her keys on the kitchen counter and searches to see what Hunk is admiring.

“Anyone hungry?” Hunk asks.

Shiro rushes the kitchen, “Always!”

“Babe, we just ate.” Keith laughs at his boyfriend.

“Yeah like, 40 minutes ago. The taste is gone, it’s practically half-digested already.” He rummages the pantry with Pidge and pulls out a loaf of bread and sets it next to a pile of sandwich supplies hunk is gathering.

Everyone except Lotor and Matt join them in the kitchen for second lunch.

“Not hungry?” Lotor asks him as he unpacks a few things from his bag and grabs a small set of keys.

“Not in the slightest,” Matt answers as he watches Shiro eat half a sandwich in one bite and sighs in jealousy over his perfect figure.

“How is there already food here?” Lance asks as he shoves a handful of barbeque chips into his mouth.

“We have a maid that cleans the house on a regular basis. I asked her to stock the kitchen with food for us.” Lotor watches as they tear open snack containers and layer cheese and meat on toasted bread. Matt stands beside him watching the carnage.

“Well, I have to go check the mail… per father’s orders. Care to come with?”

Somehow Lance accidentally spurts mustard all over the door of a kitchen cabinet.

“Absolutely.”

Their walk to the mailbox turns out to be a small trek to a tiny post office a few blocks down. The walk is far from treacherous even though it’s not exactly a short walk. It’s hot and bright, but the breeze is welcoming.

Matt clams up in nervousness. It’d been a week since Lotor’s Big Question. ‘Can we be friends.’

It felt like he was agreeing to something more permanent. Like a proposal... but in the way it would feel between two platonic individuals?

Turns out being friends with Lotor was not a casual thing.

Lotor had started Monday morning with a selfie which Matt felt happy enough to respond with a selfie of his own. He received a tiny string of hearts in return. Matt’s phone vibrated constantly for the rest of the day. At 4:30 pm his phone battery was on 1% he had to plug his phone into the charger to save it from itself. Cause of death: Lotor’s selfies. 

Except they weren’t all exactly selfies. Some were photos of the scenery around him; a photo of the courtyard when he was walking past the library, a squirrel that he tried to get close enough to pet but it ran away, and a photo of his lunch. Matt’s favorite was a bathroom mirror selfie. Lotor held up a peace sign and smiled down at the camera. He was annoyingly stylish and Matt found himself studying the photo probably longer than necessary to discern exactly what it was that made him look so good. Was it the jacket? The rips in his pants? The sneakers? Or maybe it was the long, high-ponytail that ruffled and cascaded over his shoulder.

That was Monday.

On Tuesday, Matt actually had to turn his phone on silent for a few minutes so he could focus on his damn project. 

That lasted all of ten minutes when he took a photo of his workspace and sent it to Lotor with a sad face emoji. This started yet another text conversation. Soon it was 9 pm and Matt literally turned his phone off and hid it under his mattress.

He left it there until Wednesday night on sheer willpower and the need to catch up on his homework outweighed the giddy thrill he was experiencing of Lotor, the schools ‘Prince’, Porno guy, the gorgeous guy himself texting Matt and sending him selfies. He still had his reservations. He tried not to let himself get too carried away.

Lotor would get tired soon, he would get bored. Matt wasn’t all that. He was an astrophysics major with a poor sense of style and zero hobbies during the semester. His professor had been hard on him since day one, and he had a future to work for. But still, it didn’t outweigh the fact that he was really starting to like Lotor. When you tore down the layers of cockiness a fun and sweet person was underneath. It was melting his chest into pink bubbles. It was really nice.

Wednesday night, he experienced the manifestation of why exactly he'd decided to tread carefully in the first place.

When he fished his phone out from under his mattress late that evening, he had three notifications. One was a ‘good morning’ text message from earlier that day. The second was a photo of Lotor’s homework graded as an A+ and a thumbs up next to it. The third was a selfie Lotor took before he went to bed. His hair was weaved into a loose braid over his shoulder and his features were lit golden from the lamp on his bedside table. He was wearing glasses and his face was washed clean of any makeup he had applied that morning. Below the caption said, “Goodnight! I hope you had a productive day <3.”

Matt immediately saved the photo to his growing archive and pushed down the happy pang in his tummy. He fell asleep with his phone in his hand and woke the next morning with Lotor’s face still on his screen.

 

Matt breaks from his thoughts when he hears the tiny sound of a camera shutter.

He turns and sees Lotor smiling behind the lens of a small camera. 

“I can’t look so good that it merits a photo.” But Matt laughs, “I didn’t even realize you brought that along with you.”

“I always have a camera with me,” Lotor talks as he walks, the camera pointed at Matt as they walk, “Even a phone works if you’re in a pinch.”

The tiny beep of the record button sounds and Matt feels himself blush. But it’s bright, hot, and he probably looked flushed from the sun already. He shrugs it off and finds himself smiling.

“Do you have to?” He glances at Lotor through his dark lenses.

“Do you mind it?”

After considering, Matt answers, “I guess I don’t mind. Just, don’t show anyone unless I tell you it’s ok.”

“Done and done, my friend. As is my policy.”

That makes his stomach turn in nervousness. To be one of the people behind Lotor's lens… “How many people have you recorded?”

“Hmm…” Lotor stops the recording and closes the panel turning the camera off, “I’m not quite sure… Maybe… I dunno, 25 videos I think so far.”

“Damn… so 50ish people?”

Lotor grins and laughs, “Sometimes there are more than just two people in a scene.”

“Threesomes?!” 

“Sometimes. Foursomes… the occasional orgy. Or a solo scene. Those are actually my favorite.”

“Why?”

“There’s just… something so raw and relatable to watching the change in expression on a person's face when they’re so close… do deeply immersed in pleasuring themsel-”

Matt trips on the sidewalk and struggles to rebalance himself. He loses a flip-flop along the way.

 

“Are you okay?”

“Wow. Yes. I am. I am doing well,” Matt clears his throat, “How much farther?”

Lotor tries not to laugh, “It’s right up here.”

They make their way back in silence after checking his PO box. The house is in sight, and Shiro and Keith run playfully along the shoreline.

“Does it make you uncomfortable?”

Matt focuses on the nervous set of his mouth. His skin glows like neon lavender under the sunlight.

Lotor continues, “What I do… the videos.”

“It’s…” Matt pauses his speech as they walk. His their feet shuffle against the concrete. “It’s risque.”

Lotor agrees, “It is.”

There’s no good way that Matt can tell his friend that it actually turns him on more than he can explain. 

“I’m not uncomfortable,” Matt answers. It’s all he can give right now.

Lotor’s body visibly relaxes, “Oh good. I thought I was freaking you out.” Lotor laughs and throws his arm around Matt’s shoulder as they walk.

“Why don’t you focus on any of the other qualities that freak me out? Why waste your energy on that one?” They laugh again and it feels like bubbles in their bellies.

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, how about the fact you’re insanely rich and have this ginormous beach house?”

“It’s not that big.”

“You have an extra house on the beach with four bedrooms and a swimming pool in the backyard. Oh and a maid. How many other houses does your family own?”

“Actually… my dad owns the house we all live in… and three others in the city. Along with the actual house that they live in.”

“Of course he does.”

Along the shoreline, Keith catches up to Shiro on the beach and tries to knock him over. Lotor shucks his arm off of Matt and pulls out his camera quickly as their feet step onto sand again. Shiro picks Keith up and throws him up onto his shoulders.

“I LOVE KEITH KOGANE! I AM GAY AS FUCK!” Shiro starts running along the beach with Keith laughing on his shoulders. 

“God, I am so glad I got that on camera…” Lotor closes his camera and they laugh as they find their way back to the house.


	7. Chapter 7

“Day one of being stranded on a deserted island. Food is scarce. Clean water is my only resource. I have yet to make contact with any of the local-” Matt grunts when a volleyball hits him in the face. “Lance!” Thankfully it didn’t hit the camera.

“Sorry!!!” 

Matt rushes over to the ball and records himself kicking it back into the sand pit under the volleyball net.

He closes the camera and puts it in a safe place under an umbrella.

“Wait! Don’t put it away, I’m about to do something really cool!” Lotor yells at him from the other side of the net. Shiro and Lotor are up against Lance and Keith. Skins vs. Shirts. 

The teams were a dumb excuse for Shiro and Lotor to walk around half naked. He knows this, but it doesn't stop him from reaching for the camera again and zooming in on Lotor’s abs.

“Damn…” Matt mutters to himself and then yells back, “What’s the cool thing we’re all waiting for?!”

Lotor somehow manages a perfect serve and spikes the ball when it comes back over the net. Lance dives for it but misses by a foot.

Shiro and Lotor high five and Lotor gathers his hair into a messy bun at the back of his head and gives the camera a thumbs up.

Matt’s tongue feels like it’s coated in sand. Maybe it is, but there isn’t any water in the cooler. It’s all beer. He turns off the recording and lays down under the umbrella to calm down.

A little while later, Matt, Lotor, and Pidge lay under the large umbrella and listen to the sound of the waves rushing onto the shore. It’s so peaceful that Matt wonders if this is what proper meditation feels like. His mind is blank, clean, completely at ease.

“Hey… where the fuck is Shiro? And Keith?” Pidge asks from her place on the giant beach towel.

“Didn’t they go inside to get water with Lance and Hunk?” Lotor murmurs.

“Keith told me they needed to get firewood for a bonfire,” Matt mutters with his eyes still closed.

All three of them say, “Oh my god,” in unison when they realize they’ve been ditched.

“Do you think they’re fucking in the forest?” Pidge asks and flops back down onto her towel.

Matt and Lotor answer, “Yes,” before they let out little laughs.

“I wonder if that’s where my camera went.”

“Oh my fucking god… Well, hey, free footage.”

Lotor smiles, “I’ll edit it for them later.”

“You mean you’re going to watch that?”

“Obviously… it’s not like I haven’t before.”

Matt shoots up into a sitting position with his mouth open and stares at the waves quietly before speaking. “Well, I don’t know why I’m surprised.”

 

Later, they have to go find actual firewood since the two that ‘volunteered’ were otherwise occupied. Lotor and Matt go together since everyone else seems to be too lazy to stand.

The bonfire they build is far from glorious, but it’s theirs and provides them with warmth to contrast the cold wind come off of the water. They watch the sunset with the crackle of fire sounding for them while they laugh and sip beer.

They all end up in a drink-off to see who can down four cans of beer the fastest. Matt and Lotor busy themselves with s’mores while Keith and Lance go up against an undefeated Shiro and lose, but not after downing three cans each. It’s not long until Keith and Shiro are dancing with terrible rhythm and fall to the ground kissing. Lance makes a grossed out face and takes himself into the house. Hunk and Pidge join him after arguing about who sleeps in which room.

There are four bedrooms so at least one person gets to sleep alone and apparently Pidge can run the fastest.

Shiro and Keith fall asleep in the sand in the same place they’d fallen. Matt and Lotor are left to be only two who are sober and awake.

Lotor leans back on his elbows and closes his eyes. 

Matt watches him as he admires the sound of the waves and the twinkle of stars over them.

The fire crackles and lets smoke off into the air. 

They’re happy to sit in silence.

Matt munches on a plain graham cracker and drinks the rest of his third beer. He pulls his hood up and lays back against the soft sand.

“Why can’t we do this all the time?”

Lotor relaxes all the way back to join Matt on the sand and lets out a breath, “Because real life is much more difficult.”

Matt smiles sadly, “How sad it is that that’s true.”

“Just because it’s difficult doesn’t mean it has to be bad, though. I’ve learned that.”

Matt almost rolls his eyes, “I can’t see how anything could be difficult for you.”

Lotor laughs, “I’m glad you didn’t know me before college. High school was a mess. The only reason I made it through was that my dad’s name has power.”

“What happened?” Matt tries not to relax completely into the cool sand but it’s difficult. His eyes are tired, the day’s sun hums on his skin and tries to lull him to sleep.

“Well… I got in trouble a lot.”

Matt fake gasps, “What do you mean porno guy got in trouble a lot?”

Lotor laughs, “It was the hair.”

“What…?”

“My hair. The length of it was against school policy… well for a boy. They tried to make me cut it. I didn’t. I had detention every month, but I was never expelled. Like I said, my dad’s name has power.” 

Lotor sounds like he wants to continue to Matt sits in silence.

“One time this uh… asshole… cornered me with a pair of scissors in the locker room and cut a piece of my hair. I punched him in the face,” Lotor laughs, “I wore my hair in a tight bun for the next two years and stayed under the radar. Graduation day was so liberating. You should have seen me. The moment they called my name I took off my hat and pulled the elastic from my hair and walked across the stage. The principal was furious but what could he do? Give me detention?. And the bastard had to display my photo on the school website along with all the other students.”

“Your own little rebellion.”

“Mhm… it was great… do you know the Bible story of Samson? His strength was in his hair. I was never religious but when I heard that story it made sense to me. I wanted what he had.”

“You’re a very strong person,” Matt speaks with his eyes closed, but he knows the expression on Lotor’s face changes.

“...Thank you.”

Matt slides his hand through the sand and finds Lotor’s hand laying over his abdomen. He works his hand in between his fingers and is soothed by the warmth of Lotor’s skin in his palm.

“I’m not drunk,” Matt says.

“I’ve heard that before,” Lotor laughs, but squeezes his fingers and turns onto his side facing Matt.

“...Maybe I’m drunk.”

“Ok, we’ll say you’re drunk. Can I be drunk too?”

Matt smiles, “You’re absolutely drunk.” 

Lotor laughs. His consumption of only two beers absolutely doesn’t count as being drunk. He pulls his phone from a deep pocket of his joggers and opens the camera. The firelight dancing on Matt’s features is spellbinding and the sound of waves makes him feel like he’s on another planet made of water and fire and peace. He starts recording and Matt opens one eye at him and giggles.

“I can’t look that good.” Matt turns toward him.

Lotor speaks gently, “Says who?” 

After staring at him a moment, the urge to reach out his hand and brush the long strands from his face won over his hesitations and it’s so much softer than he imagined. Matt reaches his hand out to move a stray lock of hair from Lotor’s face and tucks it behind his ear.

“Soft…”

Matt’s eyes droop and close. Lotor’s happy he has his camera running because he’s going to replay it and watch it again and again. He can still feel the tingle of Matt’s fingers on his cheek and the lobe of his ear. Matt’s hand feels so small in his own and he cherishes it.

It’s not long before Matt and Lotor are both asleep on the sand with the sound of crackling fire and roaring waves fading in the background.


	8. Chapter 8

It must be hours before they wake again.

Matt feels Lotor patting his arm lightly and rubs the spot under his hand.

“We should get up and get inside.”

Lotor rises from the sand and goes over to Shiro and Keith. It takes an act of god to get them to wake. Lotor blames the rising tide. It’s cold.

The only room available for Matt and Lotor to sleep in is small and has a full sized bed. Matt doesn’t even care. He crawls straight under the covers and falls against the pillow.

“C’mon,” He mumbles and opens the blanket away from the bed to invite Lotor to lay down.

The late hour made him soft with sleep and low on stubbornness. This was something friends could do. This was ok right?

When the morning comes, Lotor and Matt wake wrapped around each other in the small bed. Their position couldn’t be more awkward. Matt’s arm is dead under Lotor’s ribcage and his leg is up over Lotor’s hip. He tugs his arm out from under Lotor's weight and curls up tightly to Lotor’s torso with his hood still over his head. Lotor hums sleepily and pulls Matt tighter into chest and wraps him in his arms.

They wake too early to Pidge and Hunk cooking in the kitchen laughing and filling the early morning with chatter. They can smell pancakes and bacon and cheesy scrambled eggs, but it’s not enough to peel them off the bed.

 

Later, when they actually wake up, they stare at each other for a long moment before Lotor leaves the bed and reaches back over to ruffle Matt’s hair before leaving for the bathroom. Matt squints in the bright light entering the window and tries to keep Lotor’s warmth against him by crossing his arms over himself. Lotor took all of 10 minutes to look like an actual god, and Matt couldn’t stop watching him. His eyes followed him when they ate, when they packed up their things into their cars, when they got into separate vehicles to make their way back to campus, and that’s probably why Matt forgot his bag.

“Shit…”

They were thirty minutes out at a gas station to fill up and get snacks when Matt realized he didn’t have his wallet or any of his other belongings.

Pidge finds him staring hard at a bag of Doritos and punches his shoulder, “I’ll spot you this time.”

“I literally left everything… what the fuck was I thinking.”

“It’s not hard to guess,” Pidge responded with a smirk on her lips.

Matt rolls his eyes in frustration.

“What? All I’m saying is ever since you and Lotor decided to be link up you’ve been really distracted. So it makes sense.”

“We didn’t ‘link up’. We’re just friends.”

“Yeah. Ok, Mr. I Stare At My Phone With Heart Eyes When Lotor Sends Me Anything.”

Pidge grabs the chips from his hand and pays for them along with her drink.

“I forgot my shit,” Matt tells Lotor embarrassingly after he leaves the convenience store. 

Lotor looks effortlessly cool leaning against the side of Shiro’s car clad in sunglasses and happy expression even though the sun started fading hours ago and tiny droplets already fell from the sky.

“At the house?”

“Yeah, I just… I don’t know, I just forgot it.” The smell of impending rain scents the warm air under the awning of the gas station.

“We can go back,” Lotor shrugs, “No big deal.”

“Yeah, but we carpooled. And it would add a whole extra hour to the drive.”

Shiro offers his keys, “Take my car, we’ll hop in with Pidge.”

“It’s ok, I like the drive anyway. Come on, I really don’t mind driving you back.” Lotor smiles.

Pidge hops out of the store and pulls the bag of Doritos out of her shopping bag and pelts Matt in the face with it, “Have fun driving all the way back to the beach house alone.”

She unlocks the doors and gives the boys a talk about being quiet so she can listen to her music on the way back and they all pile into her Range Rover leaving Lotor and Matt standing in front of Shiro’s car.

“Shall we?”

The drive back to the beach house is pleasant save for the rain that pelted the windshield. It slowed them down, but it left lots of time for happy conversation.

The wet sand squishes beneath their sandals when they make their way to the steps at the front door. Lotor laughs and pushes his hair away from his face, rain-soaked and dripping, and fiddles with the keys at the front door.

The house is quiet, empty, longing to be filled with chatter and laughter and deep meaningful conversation and happy moments and kisses and something Matt can’t explain other than he feels it. They're alone and Matt can't help but remember Lotor's body wrapped around his own under the warm covers. Matt flinches at the strong, longing glare Lotor gives him when he turns to look at him.

Lotor’s eyes lock onto him and dart down to his lips for a moment before taking a step forward. Matt steps backward.

This continues until Matt closes the short distance between himself and the wall behind him. Lotor approaches slowly and puts his fingertips lightly on Matt’s chin. Soft pressure tilts his head upward and Matt didn’t think his heart could beat this fast. It ricochets against the inside of his ribcage and he quietly struggles for air. 

Lotor’s other hand finds its place above Matt’s shoulder, palm against the cold paint of the wall and he leans in slowly.

Matt can feel his breath more than he can hear the words from his lips, “I should have done this when I woke this morning with you in my arms.”

Matt’s fixated on the strong color of his eyes and the butterflies rushing in his gut when Lotor’s expression softens and he leans down.

Before their lips meet, the front door swings open and slams against the adjoining wall. They break apart forcefully and Matt lets out a huge breath. Lotor quickly rounds the corner and says a surprised ‘hello’ to the maid that cleans the house. 

“Emily! I wasn’t expecting you to come today!”

“Rain or shine, you know my policy, little one.” Matt peaks around the corner and sees them hugging in the living room.

“It’s good to see you.”

“You’ve gotten so tall! And so fit! Are you eating properly? Sleeping enough? Studying well?”

Lotor laughs, “Yes ma’am.”

Matt turns quickly continues down the hall to the room they shared and gathers his things. He finds enough air to breathe and then goes to check the bathroom for his toothbrush.

He emerges quickly and Lotor jingles the keys by the front door, gaze far off and cheeks blushed.

“You have everything?”

Matt swallows, but his mouth is so dry it does nothing, “Yeah. I’m good.”

The car ride is a little awkward.

Lotor breaks the silence, “I was not expecting her to work today in this rain,” he laughs a little, probably out of nervousness. But Matt doesn't know what expression he’s making. His eyes are closed, his temple presses into the cold window.

“Hm..”

“She practically raised me… My mom wasn’t really around growing up. She spent a lot of time dedicating herself to her career and her own life before she and my dad found each other again. But by the time she decided to become part of the family again I was already grown up. Emily was always there though, every day after school.

Matt listened quietly, “She seemed like a very sweet lady.”

“Yes, she is,” Lotor laughed, "Strict as hell, but kind-hearted.”

There’s another long stretch of silence.

“Are we going to… talk about-”

“No,” Matt negates and opens his eyes to watch the water droplets to race down the window.

Matt doesn’t know what he’s feeling. He’s fighting between feelings of hesitation and kicking himself for going against his rule. 

Tread Lightly. 

Matt Holt, this is not treading lightly. It’s been a week and you let him almost kiss you? Not to mention the cuddling and sleeping together and holding hands on the beach... Sure, that was a thing friends could do together… But a kiss?

Shit, he really wanted it too. The closing distance between them, the heat of Lotor’s breath. His hand on his chin, tilting his face upward. He felt like a dumbass. He was supposed to be better than this. He didn’t want to be like everyone else fawning over him… But was it really his fault that he was so beautiful? He was born into money, it’s not like he asked for it. And he was raised with a maid as a mother. It makes sense where his manners and chivalrous behavior stemmed from. Shit… Matt was in a losing battle. But he chose to ignore that. He quieted his mind and shortly fell asleep against the cold of the window listening to the sound of pelting rain on the car.


	9. Chapter 9

It’s late and Matt is exhausted. The first part of his monster of a project is almost complete. It would probably be another few days before he had anything at all to show his professor, but for now, it would have to do.

He closes his laptop and packs up his things to make the small journey to his dorm room for the night. Matt makes his way out of the library and sets across the courtyard. Tiny cricket sounds and the rush of wind through leaves takes him out of his head for a few blissful moments. The tepid air of the night refreshes him. Not as much as the ocean, but it was still something. The beach trip he took with his friends was more than two weeks ago and he was desperately missing the still quiet of water filling his ears and the roll of waves on the sand.

Lotor’s messages had eased up since their trip but hadn’t stopped completely. Matt hadn’t been very good at responding considering his project deadlines, and, well, his pigheadedness.

It was common for students to jog the campus at night, but no one had ever come up to him before.

“Matt! Hey!” Lotor slows his run and catches up to Matt on the sidewalk, "You’re out late.”

Matt’s too tired to think, but his mouth works enough to give a coherent response appropriate for the occasion, “Hey, just walking back from the library.” He doesn't think about how his heart hums at the happy sound of Lotor’s voice.

Lotor is dressed in name brand workout gear, hood pulled over his head. But he lowers it as he approaches and pulls the headphones from his ears, “You still working on that project?”

Matt shrugs and small, humorless smile sits on his lips, “Always.”

Lotor notices the dull energy around him and the almost drag of his feet and walks with him in comfortable silence.

“I know it’s one thing to be tired, but you look like you’re going to fall over...Have you eaten?”

Matt stops dead in his tracks, “Shit…I haven't eaten since breakfast.”

“Let’s go grab something. I still owe you dinner, yeah?”

Matt actually takes a moment to look at him and notices finally notices what he’s wearing, “Wouldn’t that be interrupting your workout?”

(Yes) “Oh, no not at all, I was just finishing up. Been out here for a while.” (Lies) 

Matt’s too sleepy to see the lack of sweat that should be shining on his skin.

“Yeah sure, food. Let’s do that.”

“Where would you like to eat? Anywhere is fine with me.”

“Mmm… anywhere?”

“Absolutely. My treat.”

Twenty minutes later Matt is tearing into a mouthwatering stack of blueberry waffles dripping with melted butter and maple. Even though Lotor settles for some kind of ‘healthy’ omelet and sips a cup of coffee from a questionably clean mug, he’s overly happy they ran into each other and practically swallows the first few bites of his food whole.

Matt’s energy miraculously returns about a quarter through his food when Lotor realizes he hasn’t even touched his own plate yet. The smell of onions and potatoes waft into his nose and he cuts off a small bite and takes it between his teeth.

“Feeling better?”

“MMMffff, Yes,” but it sounds more like ‘yesh’ through the chunk of waffle being hastily chewed. He swallows and lets out a satisfied sigh, “Thank you.”

“Anytime,” he smiles and spears another bite of egg. “So what are you working on?”

Matt holds his palm out wondering where he should begin, “Jesus…”

“That sounds way out of your field, my dear.”

“Shut up,” but he laughs and takes a gulp of coffee. “How much do you know about astrophysics?”

Lotor shrugs, “Not much.”

“Well, let’s just say it’s really really hard.” 

Lotor snickers.

“You ass,” Matt laughs as he slaps his shoulder from across the table, “Trust me, the entire world already knows how you feel about that.” He doesn’t mean for it to come out like that, but unfortunately, his tone betrays him a little.

Lotor feels the sting, but it’s true. He certainly hasn’t been shy about his form of employment, even as far as broadcasting his own amateur porn in the first week of school to show off his filmmaking skills.

“Sorry…”

Lotor tilts his head to his slightly lifted shoulder and lets a tiny grin stretch on his face, “You’re not wrong.”

“Anyway, the project...” Matt pushes a fork full of waffles into his mouth and chews thoughtfully before continuing, “It’s super difficult. It’s way out of the ‘normal’ range even at university level, but my professor thinks I can handle it. It makes for a great end of year project that almost guarantees me a job after graduation. So, I have to make sure it’s perfect.”

“If it’s you, I’m sure it will be. Everything you do is perfect.” The proud look in Lotor’s eye almost startles him. He watches the corner of Lotor’s mouth hinge upward slightly before his mouth fills with a bite.

“I don’t think you’ve seen very much of me then,” Matt’s voice sounds hesitant.

Ambient waffle house sounds settle around them. The quiet clank of dishes behind the front counter, the receipt tape jams loudly in the machine at the register. He takes another bite and listens to the barely there sounds of the coffee machine sputtering out the last bits of liquid into a hot glass pitcher. The table’s cold beneath his forearms and Lotor seems lost in thought staring at the window.

To ease the tension he playfully switches their plates and cuts into Lotor’s omelet to taste it. He instructs Lotor to do the same to his food with a loose wave of his hand.

Lotor eyes the plate of pure sugar with panic in his eyes. Matt notices and laughs around the bland tasting eggs, “Just a bite won’t kill you. I promise. I’ll be here to hold your hand the entire time.”

“You promise?” Lotor spears a small piece and lifts the fork with a new glint in his eye, eyebrow raised and watches Matt’s waiting face.

Before he loses his edge, Lotor grabs Matt’s hand over the cold diner table. Their fingers cross together and he takes a small bite. The shock of Matt’s face rounds out the heavy sweet taste of the waffles and makes for a completely delightful experience. Lotor doesn't remember the last time he had waffles. It’s not good for the physique. After a moment of chewing, he smiles and swallows around the dense bite.

Lotor almost grimaces at the sickly sweet aftertaste, “How can you eat an entire plate of that.” 

“Years and years of practice.” Matt reaches forward and spears a huge cube of layered waffles and struggles it into his mouth.

 

Lotor walks him home. The serenity of the late evening breeze surrounds them with a blanket of peace reminding him of their beach trip. The quiet shuffle of their feet scruffing on the leaves atop the sidewalk create a barely-there soundtrack to ease the distance of the walk.

When they reach the building that Matt lives in, Lotor turns to wave goodbye over his shoulder. Before he can leave, Matt stops him.

“Where’s my goodnight kiss?” Sarcasm drips from his words. 

Lotor doesn’t miss a beat, even though the mention of kissing has his heart throbbing like a trapped, nervous bird in his chest, “We already kissed.”

“Uh. Pft. We did not kiss!”

“Yes we did, at dinner, you switched our plates and our forks happened to be on those plates.”

“So?” Matt raises a confused brow.

“Your saliva was in my mouth.”

“Only traces…” he grumbles.

“Well, you swallowed traces of my spit. That counts as a kiss.”

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard, Prince Weeaboo. Have you been watching too much anime? Was that your first ‘indirect kiss?’ How was it? Did it make your heart go ‘doki doki’?”

“Maybe.”

They stare at each other for a hot minute before they burst into laughter. It’s the kind of laughter that tickles when it bubbles from your chest.

“Prince Weeaboo?”

“I stand by what I said,” Matt tries not to laugh again, “Goodnight.”

Lotor catches his hand when he turns to walk up the stairs to his dorm room and presses a kiss to the back of his hand, “Goodnight.”

Matt lets his hand rest in his grip for a short moment. 

“Very Prince-like of you.”

“Thank you,” Lotor smiles and watches as he ascends the stairs leaving him surrounded by the chirp of crickets in the night.

When Matt returns to his room, his phone buzzes. He swipes his thumb over the screen and opens the photo of Lotor’s happy face clad with a cheesy peace sign and the caption, “Goodnight! Sleep tight!” 

He's almost pained by the deepness of the grin on his own face.

Their messages pick up again.

Matt allows himself to be happy about it. At least for the amount of time it takes for him to take a selfie laying back on his bed, hair splayed out over his pillow and sends it along with a 'goodnight' of his own.


	10. Chapter 10

It’s Saturday night and Matt has a hot date with his computer. He’s surprised this semester hasn’t killed him yet. The workload was incredible. He didn’t love it, but he pawned off a few of his assignments onto Pidge in exchange for a few of hers. They’d done this all through school when Pidge became old enough to outsmart him in certain academic areas.

He was three pages into an essay on Quantum Mechanics (easy) when his phone buzzed against the cold surface of his desk. It was usually covered in textbooks, notebooks, pens and extra papers, but tonight, he’d taken a few minutes after submitting an assignment and cleared the space.

Lotor’s face appeared on the screen of his phone and his heart fluttered. He grinned and swiped over his lock screen to read the message.

The caption: ‘Cheat Day!’ sat under a selfie of him dressed in stylish sweatpants and a soft cotton pink shirt. He held a package of Oreos next to his face.

Matt ignored the side of his brain screaming at him to ignore it, this part of his brain was growing smaller these days, and he saved it to his phone. His archive held probably 100 photos that Lotor had sent him and it was getting bigger all the time. 

Matt texted back a picture of his computer screen and the caption ‘jealous’!

He sent it and went back to typing. 

Something Matt was learning was that Lotor was impulsive. He added this trait to his growing checklist of attributes when he opened the door to his room twenty minutes later after a quick three-tap knock on his door.

Lotor stood grinning, cookies in hand and his laptop bag over his shoulder.

“Can I come in?”

Matt smiles even though he’s confused, and let’s be honest, excited, and lets Lotor into his room. It’s darker than he realized and struggles to reach the string on his ceiling fan when he sees Lotor intrigued with the array of green stars stuck to his ceiling.

“Sorry, It’s so dark in here,” Matt laughs.

Lotor helps him with the switch and they both flinch away from the bright light. He turns it back off again.

“Eh, Dark is better anyway,” Lotor offers and drops his bag onto Matt’s bed before he sits next to it. “Do you have time?”

Lotor pulls open the plastic tab on the bag of Oreos and selects one to bite into.

“Er… Well, I can make time. I’ve kinda got this essay.”

“Oh… I’m sorry. I should’ve asked,” Lotor crunches on a cookie and glares in sadness at the wall.

“You can stay… if you want,” Matt tries to sound nonchalant, but he’d really like it if he stayed.

“Ok!” Lotor smiles and pulls his laptop out of his bag. He scoots up against the wall on Matt’s bed and stretches his legs out straight in front of him, “Don’t let me distract you then! I’ll just hang out.”

Matt sits back down at his computer and continues typing. The words sound much less intelligent and well strung together than they did before Lotor showed up. And the words were much harder to come by. His brain was too distracted focusing on the guy sitting on his bed eating Oreos to worry about Quantum Physics.

Matt turned and looked at Lotor. His headphones sat in his ears and his hair swept over his shoulders favoring one side.

“What are you watching?”

Lotor pulled one earbud out, “Wanna see?”

Matt readied himself for the worst but was surprised when he made his way over and saw Lotor was watching a movie.

“Lord of the Rings?”

“Guilty…” Lotor laughs under his breath, “I’m trying to make my way through the trilogy again… It’s been a while.”

Matt sits and reaches around to steal the other earbud from his ear. He scoots in close and lets Lotor balance the Laptop on their thighs.

Lotor offers him the package of cookies and he takes one to munch on.

Lotor smells good, like, really really good. His shampoo must be floral scented. Matt finds himself leaning in to see if he can pinpoint the scent. It’s something like rose or peony… he almost hates himself for knowing that, but he loves it.

Lotor reaches deep into his pocket and pulls out his phone. He flips the camera to front view and leans his head closer to Matt to take a photo of them sitting together to capture the moment. 

Matt smiles, “Send that to me.”

“Done and done.”

A few minutes into the movie Lotor speaks again, “I hope I’m not taking precious time away from your homework.”

“Eh, it’s not that upsetting,” Matt shrugs and feels Lotor’s shirt sleeve bunch up between them, “It’s Pidge’s assignment anyway.”

That makes Lotor laugh, “Are the two of you twins?”

“Practically,” Matt talks over the movie playing in one ear, “She’s a few years younger than me but you’d never be able to guess. She skipped so many grades she’s on the same level as me. And we look alike. Not so much before I stopped wearing glasses, but now we could pass if we really wanted to.”

“You used to wear glasses?”

“Yeah, they were annoying. I got Lasik about a year ago.”

“Hm…”

“What?”

“Nothing, I was just thinking you probably looked really cute.”

Matt puts a hand against his chest, “What, and I don’t now?”

“Oh, trust me, it’s no competition.”

Matt scoffs, “You haven’t even seen the pictures.”

“I don’t need to.”

They let the movie continue playing on their lap and let the minutes pass.

Lotor stretches his arms out in front of him and reaches back to start playing with his hair. A mindless gesture, something he probably does to busy his hands, but Matt’s transfixed. He pulls the strands together and twirls them in a bun atop his head before letting it fall out again over his shoulders.

“Cute.”

“Hm?” Lotor hums.

“Your hair… it looks cute like that.”

“Up?”

Matt keeps his eyes on the screen, “Mhm.”

“Hm..”

It’s like they’re not even watching the movie. There’s a pulsing energy between them, the proximity strengthens the pull of gravity when one of them moves or fidgets, the other is aware of it. Every moment is charged. The longer they sit together in near darkness, the deeper their focus moves away from the screen and to each other.

Matt reaches forward and adjusts the screen slightly in hopes that a different angle with pique his interest again in the movie. 

But Lotor catches his hand slowly and studies it. He opens Matt’s hand but doesn’t hold it. He starts this light series of touches, playing the pads of his fingers over Matt’s palm tracing shapes and hot lines on his skin.

He breaks the silence, "Your heartline is... intriguing. It stretches to the Mount Of Jupiter... It indicates an abundance of love, great dreams, and high expectations."

Matt stills feeling like he's been seen through completely, "Where did you learn that?"

Lotor laughs, "Well... My mom, when she was around, taught me a lot of things like this. She was very mystical."

He extends Matt’s fingers with his own until their palms press flat against each other and drags his fingers down Matt’s fingers slowly, over the small bumps where callouses could be but aren’t, over the sensitive flesh of his palm.

"Am I wrong?"

Chills dance over Matt’s wrists as the nerves dance under his skin. 

Matt's voice comes out in a quiet breath, "No."

Lotor repeats the motions slowly, savoring the feel of heat under his fingertips.

Matt feels like he’s holding his breath but he lets Lotor play with his skin, teasing him until it’s all he can think about. Matt is absolutely wrecked for life. He’ll never be able to hold hands with anyone ever again. Nothing could top this.

At least that’s what he thinks until Lotor slowly makes the motion of slotting their fingers together before sliding his fingers out from his grip again.

Matt’s losing his mind. His body is reacting wildly.

He’s never felt someone make love to his hands before, but this is what it feels like. The intimacy of trusting someone with his open hands and being given such light, sensual touches in return makes his face blush. He feels like his whole body is tingling.

After a while of this, Lotor slots their fingers together proper and rests their hands on his leg between them.

Lotor falls asleep on his bed near the end of the movie. Matt lets him stay there. He wishes he could pay him back for the sweetness he felt from his company and touches, but the best he can do right now is prop a pillow under him and pull the covers over his body. Matt pulls an all-nighter to complete his assignments, but can’t stop thinking about the boy in his bed.

 

-

The next morning, Lotor makes his way back to the house in a dream-like state. He’s floating. And with good reason too. He woke to Matt smiling at him from across the room and that’s more than he could ask for.

Lance is awake when he arrives home with yesterday’s clothes on.

“Ohhhhhhh, looks like our Prince stayed out all night. No camera?” He winks, “ It’s been a while, yeah? Who was it this time? Were they just absolutely gorgeous?”

Lotor takes way too long to answer him. But it’s a simple, “Yes,” and he smiles as he walks slowly up the stairs. It’s true it had been quite a while since he’d spent the night with someone. Well, sexually and that thought shocked him as he reached the top of the stairs. 

He was gone. He was deep in the feels. Absolutely taken. He hated it, but he’d probably use the word ‘smitten.’ Matt has brought out some kind of longing that he’s never felt for someone before and it’s the happiest feeling he’s ever had the pleasure of experiencing. Never had he been out all night with a person that didn’t involve sleeping with them or filming them. Or both. 

He let his door fall shut and fell onto his bed. His arms fell out away from him, limbs splayed out like a starfish and he stared at the ceiling. There were only a few things Lotor wanted in life, and now Matt was one of them.

Even though it was already morning, he soon fell asleep again dreaming of Matt’s smile and the thought of green star stickers glued to the ceiling.


	11. Chapter 11

The night bubbled in waves of laughter, neon lights and the bass from their party playlist. Bottles of beer and red cups sat on every surface and the kitchen was full of open boxes of pizza and bowls of chips. Lotor sipped his drink next to the little DJ set up he had outside at a table near the pool. A playlist of his favorite music blared from the speakers and mixed with the laughter and chatter of the attendants. 

His parties weren’t famous, per say, but combine Lotor, Shiro, and Keith in the same place on a Saturday night and people came running. Shiro and Keith were the campus icon couple. Everybody loved them, and let’s be honest, everybody wanted them. Lotor supplied the party house, money, good looks, and the exciting naughty reputation that came with recording his client’s most intimate moments and turning it into absolute art. Not that he was bragging, but, ok, he was bragging. Lotor was good at what he did. And people loved him for it. 

Couples made out and flirted in the backyard, in the pool and in front of the TV in the living room. He didn’t know what movie was playing and he didn’t care. Matt showed up and that was the only thing he really wanted.

The purple and blue neon lights they had installed in the pool were absolutely stunning. It felt like the whole backyard was illuminated by the magic of the crystal water. His chest filled with happiness from the beautiful images. But the water wasn’t why he was staring.

Matt sat alone at the edge of the pool drinking out of a red solo cup with his feet in the water. He was dressed in swim trunks and a t-shirt, laughing at Shiro and Keith playing chicken with Pidge and Hunk in the water. Though Lotor sat alone in a pool chair, he was somehow surrounded by a group of beautiful people, as usual when he was in public.

They talk to him, well, at him, but Lotor stays distracted. There’s something about the way Matt’s lips curl around the edge of his cup. The slow swish of his ankles in the pool and the way the pastel neon waves flutter over his happy expression makes Lotor smile. He continues watching Matt play with their friends in the pool by splashing them with water and throwing pool toys in between the two pairs so they can win.

“Not fair, Matt!” Hunk yells from his place under Pidge’s tiny frame. She almost falls but grabs hard onto Keith’s arm until she regains her balance.

A girl in the surrounding Lotor’s group notices his fixated gaze and follows it landing on Matt.

She licks her plump lips slowly before opening her mouth, “Ugh… who invited him?”

Lotor breaks out of his mind and squints at her, “I’m sorry, what?” He doesn’t remember her name, actually, now that he thinks about it, he doesn’t know half the names of the people surrounding him. 

“That nerd? He looks so pathetic sitting all by himself. Why is he even here? I bet he can’t even swim…” 

Lotor freezes.

One of the guys laughs quietly, “Let’s go push him into the pool.” 

Lotor stands and reaches for the iPod playing the music. The song is over before he realizes he’s unplugged it completely.

“Is it true that gingers don’t have souls?” Their laughter bubbles like boiling acid in his chest and rushes strong into his hands.

“Maybe you’ll meet him in hell.” The girl laughs.

Lotor quickly downs the rest of his drink and tosses the cup behind him, “Fuck off.”

A few people in the group gasp.

“Excuse me? What did you say to me?” The girl whose name he doesn’t remember flips her hair over her fake-tanned shoulder. She must have dusted her shoulders and collarbones with some kind of shimmery powder to make them look edible, which is something he’d be susceptible to in the past, but now it just makes him want to vomit.

 

Lotor turns back to them and leans down to her level inches from her face. With the most delicate curves of his accent he answers, “I said. Fuck. Off. Get out of my goddamn house.” 

He looks around to the others in the group, “All of you, actually.” No one moves. They’re stunned and confused by the ‘Prince’s’ never-seen anger threaded together with the seemingly pleasant sound of his voice. “Get the fuck out!” His finger points them to the door and watches in fury as they awkwardly make their way to the back gate. His arm drops heavily to his side.

“Party’s over! Everyone get the hell out!” He turns to his friends in the pool, “Not you guys.”

“What the hell?” Shiro mutters under his breath as he watches a group of people leave the backyard. They throw their trash of empty plastic cups and snack plates back over the fence and flip him off as they walk away. One of them yells, ‘asshole!’ but they’re already too far gone for Lotor to think about pursuing them. 

Shiro pushes Keith off his shoulders so he lands in the water and moves to leave the pool, but Lotor stops him with the wave of a hand. “Everything ok, Lotor?” Shiro asks cautiously.

“Fine. It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. They were being assholes. Not in the mood anymore.” Lotor sits down next to Matt and dips his own feet into the chilly water. It’s calming. He sees the appeal of just letting his feet float in the glowing water. Keith and Hunk make their way into the house and kick everyone else out. The ones that don’t want to leave are bribed with free pizza and it’s not too long before the house is cleared.

Lotor lays back onto the warm concrete and soaks up the grounding feeling of being alone with people he actually likes. The only reason he hung out with those people was because he’d recorded them in the past and was in some way hoping for repeat business. Well, fuck that. 

Why is he having an epiphany right now? Of all times? Does it have to happen on a Saturday night in the middle of his own party?

Lotor raises himself back to sitting and resting his head on Matt’s shoulder. He lets the others go back to playing in the pool with each other before he mutters loud enough for only Matt to hear, “Do you know how to swim?”

“...Yeah.”

Lotor lets out a sigh of relief. He couldn’t bear to house the nightmare that those assholes would actually push him into a deep pool if he couldn’t swim. Now his thoughts could rest in some kind of peace.

“Good.” The splash of water and laughter of his housemates fills the night air and Lotor finds an incomparable quiet calmness against Matt’s skin. His neck is warm against his forehead. He nuzzles his face into Matt’s neck and rests his cheek on his shoulder. The soft cotton helps him calm down.

Matt speaks quietly, “You OK?”

Lotor rubs his forehead into the crease of Matt’s neck and breathes before answering, “Yeah I’m OK…”

Matt feels he has more to say, but just pats his leg as a form of comfort instead of pulling conversation out of him. Lotor’s thankful for it, and he fixates on Matt’s hand when it stops and rests on top of his thigh. It’s soft. The warm, comforting feeling bubbles all over. It’s good. Manageable. But them Matt starts tracing tiny circles on his leg with the pad of his thumb. The tingle under his fingertips sparkles over his skin and sends a flutter into his chest.

Lotor has been really good at taking things slow, going at Matt’s pace. He gave him space and tried to let him come to a conclusion on his own feelings. It had never been so difficult but also so rewarding to be friends with someone. But right now, he can’t help it, “Hey. Can you stand up?”

Lotor stands first and helps Matt to his feet. He holds his hand out like he’s waiting for an offering, “Drink.”

Matt smiles though he’s confused and gives up the cup in his hand.

“Phone?”

Matt pulls it from his pocket and hands it to Lotor. He sets his belongings safely on a pool chair before he returns to Matt to take his hand and pull him to the edge deepest part of the pool. It’s brightly lit by a pretty purple light, even toward the bottom.

Their friends are heavily distracted by playing together.

“Lotor... What are you..?”

“I’ve got you. You trust me?”

He picks Matt up princess style with a sly smile on his face and receives a tiny nod. 

“Hold your breath.”

Lotor jumps into the water with Matt in his arms. 

The tickle of cold bubbles over their skin is like a sweet shock in the chill of the blue and purple lit water. The all-enveloping peace of silence is mental bliss. 

It feels like they’re sinking in slow motion. When deeply submerged, Lotor’s hand finds its way into the hair at the back of Matt’s head and presses his lips eagerly against Matt’s lips. 

When their toes hit the floor of the pool, Lotor opens his eyes and blinks away the chlorine sting to see the pure serenity of Matt’s closed eyelids, and for a second, Matt kisses him back. Lotor breaks away and grabs his hand before kicking off and guiding them to the surface.

Too quickly, Lotor separates from him, happy to tread water next to him.

Matt touches his lips for a second and stops when he notices he’s being watched. Lotor is hiding half of his face under water. The glow of bright blue warps the purple of his skin and lights up his hair; it floats around them like a happy water spirit. 

“So is that something friends do too?” Matt pushes hair back and away from his forehead, but there’s a smile pulling under his skin.

Lotor grins, “Why not?”

 

The gap in their distance closes as they gravitate toward each other again. Lotor can’t help but stare at Matt, especially his lips and feels his own meshing together in an attempt to copy the pressure of his kiss. His eyelashes are speckled with tiny droplets of water.

“Hey! You two! Get over here and fight me, you cowards!!!” Pidge challenges with a raised fist as she sits above Hunks shoulders. Shiro and Keith recover from their absolute loss at playing Chicken with a girl half their size. 

Lotor laughs and grabs Matt’s hand to guide him to the shallow of the pool before disappearing completely under the water.

Matt yells when Lotor’s shoulders find their way under his thighs and lifts him completely out of the water. Lotor approaches their opponent and taps Matt twice on the thigh with a very wet hand. 

“We got this!”

 

\--

 

They don’t ‘got this.’

They suffer a terrible defeat to Pidge and Hunk who retires after their double win and face off with Shiro and Keith for a second round. They lose again after Shiro picks his leg up and presses it between Lotor’s legs making him lose his balance. Keith plays dirty too. He slips a hand under Matt’s shirt and twists his nipple and makes his muscles weak all over. Keith grips his arms and pushes him down into the water.

But Matt can’t complain. Keith and Shiro get distracted from the high of winning and busy themselves with each other's lips on a pool chair. It creaks beneath them. That is until things get a little too heated and Shiro ushers Keith back into the house and up the stairs to their bedroom.

Hunk also disappears upstairs at some point. Pidge falls asleep on the beanbag chair in the living room, curled up like a cat right in the center.

After everyone is gone and Matt and Lotor are the only two left alone outside, Lotor turns off the outdoor lights leaving only the pool illuminated. He and Matt lay back on the warm concrete with their feet hanging into the pool, swirling in the water. Their feet touch occasionally and on his own volition, Matt hooks his ankle around Lotor’s and rests.

Matt praises himself for doing a great job at ignoring the fact that Lotor’s body is chiseled from stone. Perfect, smooth skin shining, dripping with evaporating water droplets. And his arms… God. Okay, maybe he’s not doing a great job.

It’s difficult because Lotor is pretty perfect. His mind races from the solidifying thought that he actually likes Lotor. Like-likes him. He doesn’t know what the exact catalyst is. Maybe it’s the grouped bunch of a million tiny little happy things. It pulls his eyes to the smooth curves of Lotor’s muscles. The shape of his limbs and the deep V right under the band on his swim trunks.

Lotor’s eyes had been closed as he rested, but now they opened to watch him. Lotor smiles and gives Matt a quiet laugh. Matt then turns onto his side and appreciated towel beneath him to cushion his elbow. He props himself up and loses his breath when Lotor copies his motion. Their faces rest inches apart.

“You kissed me.”

Lotor stares at him happily and searches his face for signs of hesitation before smiling and nodding. They watch each other, and Lotor waits. Matt realizes with excitement and a small pang of guilt that he is always waiting. He lets his inhibitions go and leans forward to find Lotor’s lips in a warm kiss.

Lotor lets out a sweet sound and smiles against his mouth. Matt presses in again slowly and is rewarded with the warm feel of Lotor’s mouth moving against his. Lotor’s free hand plays with the hair behind his ear, his fingertips trail over his neck and his nails lightly scrape into his hair. It gives Matt chills, and he feels himself melting. Their kisses start to feel more serious, deeper than their first few. His heart hammers in his chest at the warmth of Lotor's lips and his breath catches when their tongues meet between parted lips. He feels the blood rush quickly between his legs and throbs hungrily. Matt can't help but press his body against Lotor.

Without really thinking, he rolls his hips pressing his erection into the hardness between Lotor's legs and tries not to moan.

“Fuck,” Lotor whispered between kisses.

Matt groaned, “You can’t say ‘fuck’ like that.”

Another kiss.

“Why not?” Lotor’s warm voice whispered against his lips.

“It’s too hot.”

“You’re too hot.” Lotor gripped his waist and his hand found its way under Matt’s shirt. He dragged his nails over the skin there and Matt gasped.

Matt had to pull away. He sat up and tried to digest the dizzy heat feeling in his head, tried to let his heart calm down.

“Everything ok? Did I go too far?”

Matt waves his hand, “No, no it’s. It’s fine. It was good. I’m just. Hang on…” He stands and jumps into the pool.

When he emerges, Lotor’s at the edge of the pool looking nervous like he’s waiting for a verdict.

“You’re fine. It’s ok. I’m just… I get nervous. It’s-” he looks away from Lotor, face burning, “It’s been a long time.” Not only had it been a while, but next to Lotor, he felt way too inexperienced to even let himself consider doing what he wanted to do.

 

“Oh,” Lotor relaxes and rubs his eyes, “Good. I thought it was something else.”

“Like what?”

“I dunno, something bad like… you hated me.”

Matt actually laughs, “I don’t hate you.”

“Good,” Lotor smiles, “I don’t hate you either.” He stands, “We should get inside. It’s late.”

Matt takes his outstretched hand lifts himself from the pool.

It all feels so final when Lotor turns the pool lights off and locks the back door. Matt stays the night. Lotor’s bed is definitely big enough for the two of them.


	12. Chapter 12

Lotor’s fingers drum on the surface of his desk while clicking through stills to find the prettiest thumbnail for the film he’s working on. He’s not bored, per say, he loves editing. But he can’t. Stop. thinking. About Matt. It’s been a fucking week and a half since they’d seen each other, minus that one blushy wave in the courtyard between classes a few days ago, but it feels like a month.

The past few months had shown him the importance of patience, but right now it felt like a quiet torture to not see his face. Instead, he was clicking through stills of a porno he shot yesterday. He enjoyed it, but it paled in comparison to the sunshine of Matt’s company.

At least the couple was attractive. The male had an undercut hiding under long dark hair that brushed his shoulder and tattoos on his upper arms. The woman was sweet, beautiful. She had enchanting eyes and a voice that could arouse almost anyone.

He closed his eyes and relaxed against the back of his chair when his phone buzzed and buzzed again. He was used to the single vibe of a text message, so the image of Matt’s face on the other end of a phone call was rare and made his heart skyrocket while his stomach dropped.

“Hello?”

“Did I surprise you?” Matt’s cunning voice touches him like heat on his cheeks.

“You did actually,” Lotor swivels in his chair. The room is dark save for the glow of his computer screen and the lamp lit by his bed.

His music plays softly in the background for you know, ambiance.

“To what do I owe the pleasure for your call?”

“I needed a break,” Matt sighs and Lotor can only imagine him falling into his bed and letting gravity bury him into the fluffy blankets. 

The image is adorable and Lotor wishes he was there, “Well, thanks for thinking of me. What are you up to?”

“Just laying down. Trying to rest my eyes for a bit. Project is… wow.”

“That’s good then. Make sure you’ve had water and food… and a shower if you need it… change your sheets,” Lotor goes through a list of basic self-care items that he should also be checking off for himself.

After Matt nods and thanks him for the reminders he asks, “What is it that you’re working on?”

Lotor stills, “You wanna know?” Lotor says it in a tone that he knows Matt will understand so he can go ahead and reject the subject matter.

“Why not?” Lotor has been hearing this reply a lot lately. It makes him smile. “Go for it.”

“Well,” Lotor swallows and takes a breath, “It’s a video.”

“Yeah?”

“It’s uh…” Lotor feels lost for words, “It’s a man and a woman.”

“Yeah? Are they good looking?”

Lotor smiles, “Yes, they are actually. The guy is very fit. He’s got really nice arms actually…" Lotor finds himself drawn to the curves and slight protrusion of muscle beneath the man’s skin.

Matt prods when Lotor trails off, “So you’re into arms?” He laughs quietly.

“Among other things, yes.”

“And the woman?” Matt continues.

“Hmm... She’s gorgeous. She’s got…”

“What is it?”

“Really beautiful breasts. She’s curvy, beautifully toned legs. Her skin is...“ Lotor notices himself start to harden and swallows thickly. He’s never spoken to Matt in this way. He makes his voice as even as possible, “Lovely... Their skin gives off almost a golden shine under the lighting that I used.”

“Beautiful…” 

“Thank you.” They let the silence settle, but Lotor’s body feels anything but quiet.

“Is it paused?”

“Yes.”

“Play it.”

Lotor’s eyes widen at the command… to an outsider, it would definitely sound like skirting the edges of phone sex if he did, and he didn’t want Matt to feel pressured. But since Matt’s the one who asked…

He plays the video.

“Unplug your headphones.”

Lotor scoffed at his forwardness, “I’ve got roommates.”

“And? Are they not used to it?”

Shit. Matt’s got a point… and everyone is either downstairs or out for the evening.

Lotor pulls the headphones from the speaker and heavy breathing noises sound from the computer. He flinches and waits for the tiny freak out Matt always gives him when they discuss anything related to his films, recording, or sex in general. But he isn’t offered one.

Matt hums quietly, “What are they doing?”

“Having sex,” Lotor laughs, “I thought that was obvious.”

“Yeah but…?” Lotor hears a few tiny clinks of metal from the other end of the line that sounds suspiciously like a belt buckle being undone.

“They’re um…” Lotor feels himself leaking in his pants.

Matt’s voice is low, persuasive, “Don’t be shy now, Prince Lotor.

Lotor takes a breath and focuses. He speaks slowly, “The woman is on her back. They’re on a bed of white sheets. The room is clear except for a white couch on the other side of the room… The man is… fingering her.”

“Is he hard?” Matt’s voice melts his insides.

Lotor can only imagine the real connotations hidden behind his question. His free hand massages his own temples when he understands what he’s about to do. He unbuttons his own pants to let loose his throbbing cock and sighs quietly at the relief. 

“Yes. He is,” He takes a deep breath and goes in for a deep dive, “He’s gorgeous. His cock is perfect. Not too long that she can’t take all of him inside her, and thick enough that no matter how ready she is, she’ll still feel the stretch when he enters her.”

“Mmm,” Matt hums. He’s able to hear the voices from the video over their connection, but it’s muffled, “What are they saying?” His breath starts to sound rough.

Fuck. Were they really doing this right now?

“Matt…” Lotor is struggling.

“Please. Tell me what they’re saying.” Matt overruns his small flag of warning that if this goes any further, it will officially be something that Friends Don’t Do Together.

Lotor wraps his hand around his cock and strokes slowly as he speaks.

“Baby, you’re so wet… So ready for my cock,” Lotor mimics the words he hears.

Matt stifles a moan (badly), “And the woman?”

“She’s quiet, moaning occasionally. She says his name, and ‘please’...” Lotor’s grip slides up and down his cock as he speaks, “‘Let me inside of you, turn over for me baby.’ The woman turns over and lifts up on her hands and knees… ‘Fuck me please.’”

He can hear Matt’s slightly labored breathing and chills of arousal shock over his skin.  
“He’s very talkative,” Matt teases.

Lotor gives him a tiny laugh, it’s all that he can muster. “He spreads her open and leans forward to bite her before he lines himself up and presses into her. He grabs her hips and pulls all the way out and thrusts into her again. She whines when he pulls all the way out to tease her and gasps every time he buries himself inside of her. ‘You’re so tight baby, so warm. Fuck, you feel so good baby’” Lotor doesn’t even have to act anymore. His eyes close, “I want you so much, your body is perfect. I want you wrapped around my cock.”

His voice perfectly captures the heady sound of sex stemming from his own enjoyment.

Lotor must have gone quiet because Matt prompts him, “Tell me more.”

Lotor opens his eyes, he hadn’t realized he closed them in bliss from the feel of his hand around his cock.

“He looks like he’s really close. He fucks into her quickly. God, she’s loving it. The camera angle changes here, you can see more of her body. Mmm, she licks her fingers and touches them to her clit. She rubs in circles and moans from her own touch.”

“Fuck,” Matt whispers under his breath and Lotor uses it as fuel.

“He’s so close. He fucks faster and grips her hips to pull himself deeper inside with every thrust. The scene starts to slow and comes to an end as the woman cries out and they orgasm together.”

“Does he cum inside of her?”

Lotor has to regulate his breathing in order to be able to answer. His hand moves quickly over his erection and he feels himself burning close to the edge.

“Yes.”

Matt’s breathing increases in speed, “…. Would you... cum inside of me?”

“Fuck,” Lotor gasps and sees exploding, blinding white light behind his eyelids. Matt sounds like he sees the same explosions as he struggles for oxygen. His heart pounds in his ears.

Lotor lays his forehead against his desk and regains his mind after a few moments, his hand drips with cum.

“Jesus Christ…”

Silence greets him on the other end.

“Matt?”

Lotor lifts his head, eyes hazy from orgasm and looks at his phone. The line is dead.


	13. Chapter 13

Matt sits down at the table housed with unopened board games and bottles of alcohol. He’s notorious for spending every weeknight alone in his room working tirelessly on the different components of his project, but Friday nights are for living. Well, that is when he could reach a damn deadline.

Matt’s sitting with Shiro at their dining room table with their phones in hand. Even if it was just an excuse to drink, everyone had been invited over for a game night but had yet to join the party. The sun was still out, after all, maybe he was just being impatient.

His thumb drags up the screen as he scrolls through Instagram and stops when he settles on a series of photos on Lotor’s account. He stops with a happy throb in his chest and stares when one of them contains his face. It’s actually a decent picture of him and he saves it to his archive before scrolling to the next.

It’s a selfie. And a damn good one at that. The lighting is perfect. Lotor’s cheekbones sit under a thin layer of baby pink shimmer highlight and his brows are groomed and perfect. His hair is flipped all to one side of his head falling over his shoulder and into his face. Matt bites his lip and saves that one too.

Shiro leans forward in his chair and turns his phone screen around to Matt with raised eyebrows. It’s a photo of him and Lotor together. The third of photos Matt is currently saving into his phone.

“What’s the deal with you and Lotor?”

“Hmm..? What do you mean?” Matt feigns innocence when all he wants to do is fall into a giggling fit of nervousness. He’d called Lotor three days ago just to chat and hear his voice, but it evolved into something he should have seen coming but didn’t, and the shock of what he actually did with his own two hands had been haunting him. 

He didn’t regret their phone call, not really, it was just the fact that he actually did it… he should have been ashamed, but mostly he was just so fucking nervous when Lotor’s name came up anywhere. They hadn’t talked about it, but something told Matt the time was coming. He wasn’t ready to admit it to himself, or to anyone else for that matter, but he knew he was in a losing battle.

The third photo currently under scrutiny is of Matt smiling behind Lotor’s shoulder. His eyes are happy, shy looking and Lotor is in front of him, taking the selfie with the tip of his tongue peeking from his lips. He winks at the camera. Matt smiles, It was the photo from their movie night.

“You know what I mean…” Shiro smiles gently at him lightly thrumming his fingers on the table

He shrugs and repeats himself, “Don’t know what you mean.”

“Okay, well. Can you confirm or deny that this photo was taken on your bed?”

Shiro zooms into the corner of the photo and yep. There is the pattern of Matt’s sheets in the background. Shiro has seen Matt’s dorm room enough times to know the truth. 

Matt blushes and responds to Shiro’s raised eyebrow. “I can neither confirm nor deny.”

Shiro rolls his eyes, but he’s laughing at him.

“I like him?” Matt admits quietly before leaning his elbows heavily on the table and resting his chin over his folded arms. He’s thankful no one else is currently around. Shiro always had a way of getting him to talk. It felt like ages since they’d last had a one-on-one conversation and he felt the wall he’d built around Lotor crumbling.

Shiro grins and nods, “Yeah that’s what it seems like.”

“But…”

Pidge was supposed to be ‘reigning supreme’ on a first-person shooter in the living room (her words) but chose this exact moment to yell the longest string of profanities as loudly as humanly possible.

Matt laughs, “Anyway..”

“Yeah?”

Matt scrunches up his face before he speaks again, “He’s got fuckboy written all over him. You know it’s... All over his face… and abs...”

Shiro laughs, “He’s got some redeeming qualities.”

“I know…” Matt sits his chin down on the palm of his hand. 

“He’s really nice,” Shiro offers.

“Well, that’s the thing he’s not just nice he’s like… really…” Matt presses his hands together in front of his face like he’s praying to the gods for a proper vocabulary word, “gentle?”

Shiro nods. “He’s reliable.”

“True.”

“He’s...funny!”

“And fun.”

Shiro throws his palm upward, “Agreed!”

Lotor chose this moment to shove the door open with his hip and he carries four bottles of wine to the table, “What are we agreeing on?”

Matt cringes. 

“The redeeming qualities of a fuckboy.”

Shiro flinches when Matt kicks his shin under the table and gives him a look of death.

“Oh, and what might they be?” Lotor stares straight into Matt’s eyes. There’s so much said in his gaze. If their language relied exclusively on eye contact, Matt would take his glare as a sign that they were going to talk. Soon. Matt looked away and gritted his teeth.

Loud, thumping footsteps echo from the stairwell. “Wine!” Keith darts down the last few steps of and grabs the red bottle nearest him to crack it open.

 

-

 

Matt took the evening to drink to forget his stupidity. He played along with everyone and avoided Lotor’s eyes as much as possible. It wasn’t easy, but he felt he could pat himself on the back.

The alcohol is still in his system when Lotor gets him alone outside near the pool.

The others retired either to bed, the living room for video games, or had taken themselves home.

“We need to talk,” Lotor smiles and looks down at the ground.

Matt really really doesn't know if he can do this. Can’t Lotor just read his mind? Does he actually have to put his… Feelings. Into words? Vocabulary? A string of coherent sentences in the English language? Describing magnetism would be easier. He deflects. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

Lotor leans against the brick on the outside wall and rests the side of his head on it.

“Why?”

“Why what?” Matt looks off into the neighbor's yard but doesn’t actually see anything.

Sadness clouds Lotor’s voice, “Why do you do this?”

“It’s not… It’s nothing. There’s nothing-”

“You call phone sex nothing?” Lotor laughs ironically, “God… You let me hold your hand… You let me kiss you even. We talk all the time. And forgive me if it sounds like I’m encroaching on your personal space, but you’re the one that initiated that phone call. Not me.”

Matt’s face is burning with embarrassment. He grits his jaw and tries to look anywhere but Lotor’s eyes.

“Do you want this or not? Should I leave it alone?”

Matt stares at the ground and runs a hand through his hair, “I don’t know.”

“What’s there to know? More importantly what is it that you feel?”

Lotor’s phone buzzes in his pocket. 

Matt gestures to it.

It buzzes again before Lotor reluctantly removes it from his pocket. “Shit.”

“What is it?”

“I had a scene scheduled for 11.”

“Well, have fun with that,” Matt rolls his eyes.

Lotor’s face falls at Matt’s inflection, “It’s just filming.”

Matt scoffs, “Were you ‘just filming’ when you recorded the video for that ad?”

“...I only joined in a few times.”

“Because they paid you more.”

“Because I wanted to!” Lotor’s visibly angry now, his face is hot and his hair falls into his face. He turns to walk away but stops, “I’m not prostituting myself. And even if i was? Why would it matter?”

Matt shrugs, “It doesn't matter.”

“Obviously nothing matters to you.”

Matt feels his comment like a punch in the stomach.

Lotor continues, “Actually, something must matter otherwise you wouldn't be so upset right now.”

The words feel like acid in his mouth, “No. It’s fine. Nothing matters. Go give a piece of that ass to whoever dials your phone number in the correct sequence.”

Quiet crowds them like heavy smoke and Matt knows he’ll never forget the look on Lotor’s face no matter how long he lives. Hurt boils in his eyes and floods out between his open lips.

Lotor turns to leave.

“Shit. No, please. I’m sorry… I didn’t mean that.” Matt follows him to the back door, but Lotor doesn't stop there. He makes it to the front door with Matt calling his name behind him and slips on his shoes. His camera is already waiting at the door. He grabs it. 

“Please, honestly. I’m really sorry I didn’t mean it.”

“I’m late.” Lotor grabs his keys and opens the door.

“Lotor, please,” Matt begs for understanding and follows him out into the front yard.

“Look! I can get over you, but not if you keep following me. You obviously don’t want this. And you are not allowed to shame me for what I do. Just leave it alone. Let me leave, I’m sure your life will go back to normal and you can go along living in astrophysics and geometry or whatever the fuck you wanna do with your life. Honestly, I wish you the best.”

And with that, Matt’s left with nothing but the night air and the sound of Lotor’s car roaring to life and rolling down the street. He sits on the curb with his head in his hands and wishes for nothing more than for Lotor to turn around and come back. He knows he fucked up but he can’t stop pushing him away. Even when he knows what he wants. 

The problem is, Matt’s never been good knowing how to get what he wants.

Everything in his life had always been problems and solutions. Equations and numbers and logic. This didn’t make any sense. It wasn’t logical how he, against his own decision, fell or the popular Prince. Just like everyone else. But the distinction was that Lotor didn’t look at everyone else the way he looked at Matt. And he knew this. 

And as it turns out, pushing him away is not what he should have done.

Matt felt like pulling his hair out but took to walking instead. At least he had his shoes and keys. He checked his pocket for his phone and sighed in relief when it was there. He took off down the street and made himself walk all the way back to his dorm. It was his own stupid form of punishment. But he hoped it would suffice.


	14. Chapter 14

Matt didn’t sleep at all.

He replayed their argument over and over again in his head all night and for the majority of the next day, and every time, his words became more vile and regretful. He cringed at the memory of his own voice.

He was an idiot. For more reasons than one. To add to his anxiety, he also left his backpack at the house. His laptop, notebooks, and textbook was in that bag. He needed it and paced in his room wondering when he could sneak over and retrieve it without being seen. It was Saturday so they’d probably all be out later.

Matt took out his phone and sent a message to Shiro asking if he would be there tonight while trying to be sneaky enough to not give himself away. Thank god Shiro was notorious for giving too much information and knowing everyone's schedules. Shiro said they were planning on heading to a party, Lance would be home, but he was studying, and Lotor would be leaving at 8 pm. Probably filming. Matt banged his phone against his head for a second cringing at the memory of their argument again. It was never going to stop.

Lotor wouldn't want to talk to him, much less even see him. So it worked out. He didn’t want to upset him further even though all he wanted to do was beg for his forgiveness. Again. But that shit was done. Lotor left. ‘I can get over you…’ he’d said. Matt really really didn’t want that to happen. It was all a mess.

At 8:30 pm he let himself into the house to find his bag. It had to be somewhere in the dining room or living room. Except it wasn’t. Matt closed his eyes in disbelief when he remembered that Lotor had taken his backpack upstairs to his room to ‘keep it safe’ and winked before the heavy drinking started the night before.

Matt reluctantly made his way up the stairs and tiptoed down the hall.

It didn’t seem like anyone was home even though a few lights were on, so the sound of Lotor’s door opening scared the shit out of him.

Suddenly, Matt was face to face with Lotor and the shock just about killed him. They locked eyes, both of their faces expressed how surprised and anxious they were. Lotor stepped back into his room, “Hi.”

“...Hi.”

Lotor glanced down the hall, “Can I help you with something?”

“...My bag.”

Lotor nodded with a blank look on his face and turned back into his room to retrieve Matt’s backpack. Matt slung it over his shoulder and couldn’t bring his feet to move.

“Sorry, I wasn’t trying to barge in… I thought you had plans.”

Lotor scrutinized him, watching for nuances in his expression probably, “I didn’t feel like going.”

Matt nodded.

“Well, if that’s all then, goodnight,” Lotor turned back into his room and Matt caught the door hard keeping it from shutting.

It all came out in a rush, “Look, I’m sorry about last night. I was way out of line. I didn’t mean that shit. If you never want to talk to me again, I understand. I wouldn’t want to talk to me either. It shouldn’t matter to me what you do. I was upset because…” Matt grips his temples for a second and forces himself to look Lotor in the eye like he deserves, “I like you... I actually really like you a lot and I was jealous. Like, so fucking jealous. And that’s bullshit, right? It doesn't make sense, but shit, I’ve been going crazy-”

Lotor cuts him off with a hard kiss and the shock Matt feels revs up his heart rate. He reciprocates enthusiastically. It’s wild how fast their hands end up in each others hair, how quick their bodies press against each other. Lotor presses Matt against the wall and his bag falls to the floor. Lotor’s lips are mad against his own, warm, indulgent and satisfying in a way Matt’s never let himself experience before. 

Lotor grabs his waist to keep him still and pushes his hips into Matt, rubbing his growing erection against Matt’s own and makes himself moan. It comes out through his nose and Matt absorbs the needy sound. They’re panting, wildly hungry for each other and Lotor pulls Matt away from the wall to push him into his room. He shuts the door and takes to Matt’s lips again.

In between kisses he scolds him, “You asshole.”

“I’m such an asshole,” Matt replies before his lips are busy again.

They slowly back up to Lotor’s bed.

“You fucking hurt my feelings,” Lotor pulls Matt’s shirt up over his head and throws it to the floor and runs his hands over Matt's torso and shoulders.

“God, I know.. I’m sorry.” 

Lotor laughs and presses his hands flat against Matt’s lower back, “Are you calling me ‘God’? Are you going to worship me?”

Matt smiles into another kiss before sneaking his hands over Lotor’s abs and lifts his shirt to help it off of him, “I would. If that’s what you want from me.” Matt kisses him again.

“Oh, I want everything from you.”

Matt groans quietly when Lotor’s eyes meet his and his hands slide under the band of his joggers and grabs his ass with both hands.

“Fuck…” 

Lotor moves one hand to the hairline at his neck right behind his ear and scratches lovingly. It soothes him and makes his eyes droop. He rests his forehead against Lotor’s chest.

 

“What do you want, love? What do you need from me?”

Matt peels his eyes open again and stares up at Lotor. 

“I want everything from you.”

Lotor kisses him again and smiles into it, “My pleasure.”

Matt’s lead to the bed where his joggers are encouraged off leaving him in nothing but his boxers and Lotor soon joins him.

Matt settles against the pillows and Lotor lowers himself on top of him, taking time to brush the hair from his face and kiss under his jaw. “What on earth do you have to be jealous of?” His lips suck lightly over his neck and his tongue traces the place where Matt’s pulse jumps. “You are perfect.” He ruts his hips into Matt and their obvious erections brush together.

“God…” Matt’s face is blushed and it spreads to his chest. His breath comes out panting and he grips Lotor’s hips. His skin is hot, smoother than he could imagine and he slowly thrusts upward making sure his cock presses hard into Lotor’s thigh and sighs at the friction.

Lotor groans happily and starts a slow trail of kisses down Matt’s chest and stomach. He noses the tiny hairs below his belly button and kisses just above his boxers.

“It’s just… I don’t know. You’re so comfortable with recording people literally fucking in front of you and… I just. I’ve never been that brave-”

His voice quivers when Lotor grabs the band with his teeth and tugs on it, “May I?” His voice is gravel and lust.

Lotor pulls Matt’s boxers down just enough.

“Ah… please,” But he continues, “It’s stupid and irrational, but I just- ah, fuck,” 

Lotor grips Matt’s cock in his hand. He licks the place right below his head and sucks on the tip like a blow pop.

“Fuck...fuck fuck…” Matt whispers and chills spread over his body when Lotor giggles darkly between his legs. He takes more into his mouth and Matt gasps at the warmth around his cock. 

“Ahh….. so good.”

“Beautiful,” Lotor admires and takes Matt down his throat.

“I just want you all to myself,” Matt doesn’t know how he’s still talking with his cock down Lotor’s throat, but he’s doing his best. “Everytime you left, I was so jealous. I didn’t know why. I wondered if I wanted to be the one behind the camera.”

Lotor slowly lets off of his cock and licks the tip, “Do you?”

Matt gasps when Lotor fills his mouth again, “Maybe? Then… Maybe I thought of how brave you are... I’ll never be that brave.”

 

“I can help you with that if you want,” Lotor’s voice rumbles out, his nose presses into the hair on his lower tummy and he hollows his cheeks.

“Maybe…” Matt grips the sheets in his hands, “And then I realized it felt like you were cheating on me. But we weren’t even together. And it’s not even cheating. I was just jealous of your time and that’s clingy and possessive and ridiculous and I started hating myself.”

Lotor lets off again. Matt’s cock is slick and hot from his mouth and he jerks him with a light touch of his fingers. He leans on his elbow and presses a kiss to his thigh.

 

“I was wondering what was in your head…” He speaks softly and smiles, “and don’t worry, I like you enough for the both of us.”

Matt puts an arm over his eyes to hide the blush of happiness on his face, “I’m not good at this.”

“What? This?” Lotor jerks him harder and sucks the head into his mouth quickly and lets off with a quiet pop, “I can also be good enough for the both of us.”

 

Matt laughs, “Not what I meant, but I believe you.” He sits up and captures Lotor’s mouth again. 

“I can’t believe you don’t hate me,” Matt maneuvers Lotor to lay next to him. He rids himself of the boxers hanging on his hips and rubs his hand over Lotor's hip. Over the tight silky boxers clinging to him, over the curve of his ass and over his thigh.

“I could never hate you. You’re too lovely. And sweet and smart and pretty.” 

Matt laughs, “Shut up,” and steals another kiss. “If anyone’s pretty it’s you.”

“Ok, well we can both be pretty,” Lotor smiles and slowly takes to devouring him again. The sounds of breathing, kissy noises and the sound of sliding sheets surround them. Matt feels like he’s getting high from Lotor’s touch, and the thrill of finally giving in and articulating how he feels makes him giddy.

Lotor makes a pretty show of sliding his boxers from his hips and Matt assists him with the disposal. It’s cliche, Matt thinks, how perfect he would be. Lotor would have a big cock... it was practically science, he should have known. But that didn’t make him want to taste it any less.

“Mmm… fuck. Why didn’t you tell me you had a perfect cock?” Matt pushes Lotor on his back and touches the muscles he finds and licks his lips. He lowers his head and doesn’t even have to grab Lotor’s cock, it stands for him and he licks the underside like Lotor had done to him and Lotor moans.

The sound is incredibly feminine and Matt’s face heats exponentially. Lotor looks way too comfortable to lay against the pillows, eyes closed, brows cinched together. Matt stares when he thinks… This boy is a bottom. He’s dying to experiment now. Matt spreads Lotor’s legs and bends them, feet flat on the bed and settles between them. He sucks a finger into his mouth to make sure it’s wet and lightly teases Lotor’s asshole. 

“Ohh… fuck yes,” Lotor’s voice sounds almost pained. His body bows at the slightest touch.

“Listen… how are you a bottom with a cock like that?” Matt laughs, but he’s incredibly happy.

Lotor laughs and leans up on his elbows to watch Matt as he takes his cock in between his lips, “I like both.”

Matt pulls off, “Oh, thank God. Because I definitely need you inside of me… like soon.” Lotor moans freely at Matt’s words and loses his breath when Matt’s finger teases his hole.

“I was… wondering,” Lotor struggles to get the words out with Matt sucking on his cock like that. He struggles, but soon Matt has the back of his throat over the head of Lotor’s cock and he writhes. “Oh, Matt… fuck me please.”

Matt smiles around Lotor’s erection and nods.

Muffled voices sound from downstairs.

Lotor grabs Matt by the hair, “Shh. Damn… I didn’t think they’d be back this early… Just be quiet they think I’m gone.”

Matt slows, but still swipes his tongue over what he can find.

“Wait wait just... It’s hard for me to be quiet with you- ah.. Doing that.”

Shiro and Keith are giggling as they come up the stars. 

Lotor bites his lip to keep the noises from coming out, but Matt continues teasing him.

Matt whispers, “Lube?”

“Fuck…” Lotor mutters and reaches into the crease where his mattress meets the frame and takes out a condom and lube.

“Prepared, were you?” Matt winks at him.

He smiles and whispers, “It never hurts.” 

Matt gets on his knees and takes the small bottle of lube from Lotor’s hand.

Lotor’s room is at the end of the hall, so they’re not expecting voices.

“Oh shit, Matt left his bag here.”

Matt and Lotor stare at each other with wide eyes. He whispers, “Shit, I forgot about the bag.”

“I’ll call him and let him know,” Keith’s voice.

Matt’s mouth drops open and their eyes dart to his pants on the floor. His phone starts ringing.

“Oh, did he forget his phone too? In Lotor’s room?” 

Matt lunges his upper body off of the bed to reach for his pants. He can’t get it out fast enough and wants to scream when Shiro opens the door, but all he can do is stare wide-eyed at him.

“Ohh!! Shit!! Sorry guys!” But Shiro’s laughing.

“What?” Keith pops his head in, “Oh! Finally, Jesus!” He yells down the hall, “Lance, you owe me $20!” 

The sound of Lance opening his door shocks Matt into reality and he scrambles up to Lotor and covers them with the blanket. Lotor can’t stop laughing.

“What? Oh! Aw man, I was guessing another week at least.” Lance sounds disappointed, but reaches his phone above Keith’s head and snaps a picture.

“Delete that, you ass!” Matt yells as he walks away.

Lotor yells louder, “Send that to me!”

Shiro bows in apology before shutting the bedroom door again.

Matt feels himself dying and he collapsed onto the pillows. “Take one last look while I'm still alive, this isn’t going to last long.” He turns over to lay face down, face in the pillow.

Lotor laughs out loud again and reaches for his phone. Lance was quick with sending the photo.

“You know, it’s not a bad picture.”

“If you put that on Instagram I will literally strangle you with your own hair and steal your motherfucking sheets.”

“Yes, sir.”

Matt squints at him and grins, “Save that for another time.”

Lotor giggles and shimmies down to the pillows. He covers them up to their shoulders with his blanket. Then he rubs his hand over Matt’s skin, everywhere he can reach. His back, arms, over his neck and scratches his nails into Matt’s hair. 

Matt’s eyes close and he starts to drift. 

“Wait… shit, sorry. Do you still need…?” Matt raises up.

Lotor shakes his head and smiles through the loving stare in his eyes, “This is fine. I just want to lay here with you. Unless.. You need?”

Matt shakes his head, “No, this is good for now. It’s… nice just to be with you.” Lotor opens his arms and encourages Matt into his arms. He rests his head against his chest and smiles.

“Even your heartbeat is pretty.”

Lotor smiles up to his eyes, “Matt, you are adorable.” He guides Matt’s face to his and kisses him again.

“You’re too pretty for me.” Lotor’s eyes light up at the compliment even though it makes him a little sad.

“You’re beautiful… why do you think I take pictures of you all the time?”

Matt doesn't have an answer.

Lotor kisses his nose, “Go to sleep, pretty boy.” 

Matt grins and snuggles his face into Lotor’s neck. “Goodnight.” He wraps his arms around him as best as he can and they fall asleep in each others arms and stay entwined the whole night. Even though the evening startled them out of finishing what they started, they knew they would continue this later.


	15. Chapter 15

Matt woke to the sound of Lotor humming in his sleep. Ok, it wasn’t humming… per say. But the sound was coming from his nose so there was that. It was still dark so he guessed it was still the middle of the night, and there were no sounds coming into the cool room from the other side of the door, which is enough to bore Matt back into sleep. 

Almost. 

Lotor’s leg is pressing against his hip. It’s not uncomfortable, but he’s sticky with sweat and stretches away from the heat of his body. With a thrilling rush, he realizes he’s still completely naked in Lotor’s bed. Thoughts of Lotor’s mouth around his cock and on his neck makes him flush all over and he slowly blinks his eyes open. What should have been the simple thought of Lotor’s body pressing against him turns into excitement when he realizes it’s not Lotor’s leg pressing against him, it’s his cock. And it’s not even sweat on his hip... And apparently, he’s not humming. 

Lotor is whining in his sleep. He sounds like he’s on the verge of crying, but from experience, Matt can tell that it isn’t an emotional cry. It’s physical. Lotor, though still asleep, is naked, visibly horny, and leaking heavily against him.

Matt sits up and leans on his hand to appraise the situation as sleep clears slowly from his head. There is no way he’s going back to sleep. He slowly moves the blanket from Lotor’s body revealing his shoulders and chest and continues down until all but his legs are uncovered. Lotor’s skin is hot to the touch.

Matt uses the next few moments to stare and appreciate the lovely, angelic vision of Lotor sweet against the fluffy white pillows, resting against the soft sheets. He doesn’t understand how he, in his own plainness, is in the bed of the school’s ‘Prince.’ He’d said ‘I like you’ and it was reciprocated. Even after showing the vilest, jealous parts of himself, Lotor didn’t throw him away. It's magical the way his blood rushes in his veins, sparking the beats of his heart to rush just a little faster, a little more wild, at the sight of Lotor. Lotor is just plain lovely.

He regrets the weeks he spent deflecting his advances. Even he could look back and see he was a complete asshole. He doesn’t know how he’s even allowed to be here right now, but he takes it as a gift. He wants to touch every inch of skin and kiss every line on his body.

Matt feels his body respond excitedly, mainly the part between his legs, happy to oblige in the thoughts he’s currently having. He runs a hand over Lotor’s skin taking favor to his back and moves a gentle scraping of nails up into his hair.

“Hey…” Matt whispers and smooths his thumb over Lotor’s cheek, “Wake up.”

He sets quiet kisses on the tip of his nose and cheeks. He continues kissing lightly down to his shoulder and side of his neck. “Baby,” He presses a kiss to Lotor’s lips with a featherlight touch and smiles when Lotor opened his eyes. 

“Hmm?”

“You okay?” Matt pushes the hair out Lotor’s face. He didn’t take care to tie his hair together like he did every night, so the strands weaved together on their own and tangled as they slept. Matt decides that it’s beautiful how his hair falls over his face and splays out in every direction. Even if it would be really tangled in the morning, Matt would help him fix it. Right now, he was admiring.

Lotor smiles up at him. The light from the window gave them enough so they could see each other even in the middle of the night. His cheeks turn pinker, “Did you call me ‘baby’?”

Matt’s first impulse is to deflect, but he swallows that down quickly and faces the question, “Yes… I did. Is that ok?” Matt keeps his voice at a whisper.

Lotor hums happily and smiles, “I like it. But really I guess I’d like anything you called me.”

His heart skips a beat the tone of Lotor’s voice. 

“How about… ‘Babe’?” Matt smiles and runs his hand down over Lotor’s hip until he reaches his cock. It’s still erect and he fondles it. He continues whispering even though Lotor’s body tenses and his mouth falls open, “I think ‘babe’ fits you.” Matt lightly grips Lotor in his hand and glides his open fist up and down. Matt’s own arousal bubbles and flushes into his cheeks as he watches Lotor’s eyes cloud. His breath is shallow and hot where it hits Matt’s skin. He admires the view of his open mouth and moves closer. “You’ve been whining in your sleep. Was there something interesting to dream about?” Matt’s voice is low as he watches Lotor’s expression grow in hunger and anticipation, “God, you have really pretty lips… did you know that?” Matt whispers against them as he strokes.

Lotor’s hand searches for something to grip onto, but their bodies are devoid of fabric and he ultimately ends up with his hand in Matt’s hair after searching hungrily over his skin.

“You wanna talk about my lips right now? With a perfectly good cock in your hand?” Lotor slurs and steals a kiss, taking the time to run the tip of his tongue in between Matt’s parted lips, not quite meeting their tongues together. Just enough to taste.

Matt chases it slowly and opens his mouth against Lotor’s lips to invite his tongue into his mouth. His hand moves with purpose between Lotor’s legs.

Lotor grabs Matt’s hip, “Ah… if… if you go too fast, I’m not going to last.”

Matt slows reluctantly and rests their foreheads together. “Mmm... I want you.” 

Lotor groans quietly through his nose and presses Matt’s face to his neck. “Do you know what it does to me to hear you say that?”

Matt does, because he can feel Lotor’s cock jump in his hand. He whispers, “So you enjoy it when I talk to you, yeah? You enjoy dirty talk?” Matt lets his cock free and shivers in the warmth of Lotor’s body when he presses the front of his body flush against him. 

“Mm… I like it…” Lotor brushes the hair away from Matt’s forehead and kisses it. 

“We didn’t really get a chance earlier… to get to know each other...” Matt lets his words trail off.

Lotor nuzzles into him. “We can always start again… we have time.” He holds Matt’s jaw in his palm and kisses him slowly.

The thought of that makes Matt extremely happy and warm inside. It’s a delightful contrast against the cool of the silky sheets beneath them.

Lotor rolls them over until Matt’s underneath him and continues kissing him and pulling heavy, quiet gasps from him until they’re panting.

“I know you said earlier that you wanted me inside of you soon,” Lotor watches Matt’s eyes as they deliberately follow the movement of his lips, “But I feel like I might die if I can’t have you inside of me as soon as humanly possible,” Lotor swallows and waits for the eager, happy sound of Matt’s approval. “Please.”

The blush over Matt’s face is fire and he gently thrust his hips upward praying for some kind of relief to the heavy throbbing in his cock. Matt’s palms slide over the curves of Lotor’s hips and around the curve of his ass to grip the soft flesh he finds there and massages it under his eager fingertips. 

It’s enough for Lotor to let out a warm breath of anticipation over Matt’s neck and start frantically searching for the condom and bottle of lube they lost in the sheets earlier. It’s adorable. Matt lets out a happy giggle as Lotor searches and watches when, after he finds it, wets his fingers with lube quickly before he reaches around to press inside himself. Matt watches in rapture as Lotor sighs at the feeling and quickly adds the second finger. It doesn’t take much to prepare himself. Matt wonders if Lotor had spent the last few weeks favoring his ass during fantasies of Matt maybe someday plowing him. He hoped that was the case because Matt had done his fair share of fantasizing, but he never thought he’d finally be here.

“So eager…” Matt speaks low in approval. If only Lotor could see his own face in a mirror… he was long gone already. His hair was everywhere. His lips were parted and hot letting out puffs of air as he prepared himself. Matt wanted him right now and pats the sheets around them until he finds the condom. He runs his hand over Lotor’s thigh. 

“You’re doing so well… Let me know when you’re ready for me,” Matt’s rewarded with a happy sound and Lotor straddles his hips, lining himself up perfectly over Matt’s cock.

Matt caresses the inside of Lotor’s thigh softly and gives himself a moment to tear open the condom. Lotor is slowly melting away in anticipation as he waits for the few seconds it takes Matt to roll the condom on, his skin flushes. 

Lotor lowers himself down slowly, letting the tight muscle relax before pressing down over Matt’s cock. The contrast in temperature compared to the cold air of Lotor’s bedroom is blinding pleasure. He rolls his eyes in the heady appreciation of Lotor’s body just as Lotor bottoms out over his hips.

“Fuck… amazing,” Matt leans up to see himself buried completely inside, “Jesus Christ.”

Lotor fucking giggles darkly and swirls his hips causing Matt to gasp at the slight pull over his cock. He hasn’t even started moving yet, but Matt knows Lotor’s ass is going to ruin him for anybody else in the world. Nothing else would ever compare.

Lotor uses the muscles in his thighs to lift up halfway and seat himself again onto Matt’s lap. Matt can feel Lotor watching his face, he must look like a mess because Lotor is grinning like he’s incredibly pleased with himself. He moves again, slowly, and finds a decent rhythm on Matt’s cock. It pulls the air deep from his lungs. He grips Lotor’s thighs and lets his head sink into the pillows.

“You’re amazing,” Matt praises before Lotor swishes all of his hair over to one side and leans down over Matt, hands on either side of his head and kisses him deeply. He fucks himself using Matt’s body and moves his lips eagerly over Matt’s lips and dips down into his neck to bite a tiny purple mark under his jaw. His breath is hot against Matt’s neck and it sends chills down his spine.

Matt’s hands end up in Lotor’s hair when he lifts himself back away from Matt’s chest, “Beautiful.”

His body is hot all over. There’s something mind-shattering about the way Lotor’s body hugs him. The warmth of his body inside and out is like an itch tingling over his skin. A sense of urgency bubbling over his nerves, a happy heat engulfing him. He’s lost to sensation, to the sound of Lotor’s breath as he sinks down over his cock, the feeling of Lotor’s nails digging into his arms and scraping gently over his skin. Lotor’s palms are smooth and sweet and moving over his chest and neck and up over his arms. He drags his fingers through the hair at Matt’s neck and ghosts down his abdomen and back up again.

Lotor’s hips falter and he leans forward to rest his tired muscles taking favor to busying Matt’s lips with his own again.

Matt feels the soft tendrils of Lotor’s hair brushing over his skin. The scent of floral shampoo and sweet perfume clouds over him. Lotor’s lips are sweet like candy. The pressure against his mouth is something he’ll never stop craving. Lotor pulls off of Matt’s cock only to make a show of sinking down again slowly. Matt gasps quietly against Lotor’s lips and he finds his hands studying every inch of Lotor’s skin. 

Lotor continues to move over him and finds a slow rhythm of kissing and licking Matt’s lips. It’s like heaven the way he’s fucking himself on Matt’s cock.

It’s like reality doesn’t exist anymore, and he could care less. Matt’s lost to the high of pleasure and touch and breath and desire and he never wants to come down. If Lotor notices, he doesn't mind. Matt drifts. He gives himself over to his senses and finds his mind working just enough to kiss and touch and breath against Lotor’s skin. To feel the way Lotor’s muscles tense as his knees press against his hips.

“Perfect…” Matt finds himself whispering, “You’re completely perfect,” and he opens his eyes to see Lotor meet his eyes. His vision is hooded in pleasure, his hair falls soft waves of white over his shoulders and the toned muscles beneath skin.

“Matt…”

Lotor’s cock is hard as it moves between them untouched and begging. Matt leans up and Lotor follows his movement, sitting back on his heels with Matt still deep inside of him.

He pinches his lip between teeth, “I want to watch you cum.”

Lotor offers a small smile and reaches to grip his cock.

Matt grabs his hand before it can find purchase and shakes his head.

“Can you cum without it?”

Lotor groans and nods his head, lip between his teeth and he positions himself so that Matt’s cock will hit his prostate with every downward thrust.

Matt leans back on his forearms and watches Lotor move on top of him. His brow furrows in focus as he moves. 

Matt reaches up and plays with one of Lotor’s nipples and he can tell by the moan that Lotor really needs it to push him over the edge. Matt takes note of the angle Lotor has over him and grabs Lotor to his chest so he can trade places with him. He slowly flips them over keeping himself inside. Lotor sighs and relaxes against the pillows when Matt lays him on his back.

Lotor smiles when Matt kisses him and licks lightly into his mouth. He thrusts and groans at the heat.

“Fuck…” Matt gives himself a moment to enjoy the feel of thrusting his hips, “You feel so good.”

Apparently, Lotor still has half a mind to compliment him, “You’re beautiful.” His voice is sweet and happy sounding.

Matt smiles and rolls his eyes. He thrusts in a few more times and stops when he sees Lotor’s camera on the desk, perfectly angled toward them, the red light is blinking.

“Is your camera recording?”

Lotor breaks from the haze and follows his eyes, “No it’s charging. The blinking light is charging, a solid red light is recording.”

“Oh…” Matt finds himself simultaneously relieved and disappointed.

“Do you…?” Lotor’s voice trails off.

Matt can’t believe what he’s about to say, “Can we record us?”

Lotor lifts up excitedly on his elbows, “Really?”

Matt nods and laughs at Lotor’s excited puppy dog expression. Lotor pats his leg and lets him slip out of his ass. 

Matt watches as he turns the camera on and sets it on the dresser near them. But the angle left things to be desired, so he moves his chair to the middle of the room with his camera on it and flips around the side screen so they can make sure the angle is good.

When Lotor is satisfied he returns to the bed and lays back against the pillows. Matt takes to his lips and spreads his knees. With little resistance, he sinks back inside and gives a few full thrusts. He grips Lotor’s cock in hand and strokes it to hardness.

“Matt… fuck… fuck me,” Lotor’s voice is barely there as his eyes close in ecstasy.

Matt lets go of his cock and takes one of Lotor’s nipples into his mouth. His hand finds the other. Matt laves his tongue over the nub and sucks it between his lips. Lotor seems to like it best when Matt gives a little bite to it and grips the sheets underhand.

All the while Matt thrusts at just the right angle to nudge Lotor’s prostate at every moment. Matt hopes Lotor is close because he doesn’t know how much longer he can stand it. The hot drag of Lotor’s walls around his cock is driving him mad, he feels the bubble of heat in his gut and the tingling of arousal growing. He knows he’ll be close soon if he doesn’t slow down. But he can’t, not with the way Lotor’s writhing on the bed sheets, panting under his touch and breathing his name.

Matt leans up and pulls out. He’s too close, but he doesn’t let him know. He replaces his cock with two fingers and feels around until Lotor’s prostate is located and prods at the spot. Lotor writhes further.

“Oh.. fuck.. Fuck, it’s good. So good.” 

Matt uses his free hand to play with one of his nipples. He turns it under his fingers and finds a rhythm inside Lotor.

“Do you like that baby? Do you like the way it feels? Being on your back?” Lotor pants at Matt’s words, “God, you’re so fucking pretty,” he keeps his voice low as to not wake anyone in the house, but Lotor has no such mind. His voice flows freely.

“Please, please, please… I wanna cum. I wanna cum,” Lotor’s hand darts to his cock but backs off before he can touch it.

“Good boy,” Lotor’s chest visibly tightens at the praise, “You can cum whenever you want, baby. But no touching.”

“Ah… ah-close, I’m so close,” Lotor cries.

Matt quickly removes his fingers and thrusts his cock back inside of Lotor’s tight muscle. He thrusts quickly against Lotor’s prostate and uses his free hand to occupy Lotor’s chest making sure to tease his nipples and send him over the edge.

“Come on, baby, what are you waiting for? I want to see you cum for me,” Matt feels the words leave his lips and blushes at the sound.

He almost forgets they’re recording… almost.

Matt moves his hands down between Lotor’s legs and massages the place right under his balls with his thumbs to give him more sensation without actually touching his cock and it works. 

Lotor grips his arm, “Fuck, fuck. Yes… Oh, fuck. I’m gonna- I’m gonna cum.”

Matt stays afloat just long enough to watch Lotor bend away from the bed. His cock spurts white against his chest and drizzles out a copious amount of cum. His mouth is stuck open panting while Matt continues to thrust inside of him. Matt grips Lotor’s hips hard and slams into him repeatedly until the pleasure snaps and sends a feeling of exploding release all over his body. He stills and tries to catch his breath.

He hears Lotor groaning and opens his eyes to see Lotor with his face in his hands, “Fuck that was amazing… oh my god.”

Matt grins and pulls one of Lotor’s hands away. He’s glad the camera is on, because he’s going to watch again and again the look on Lotor’s face when he drags his fingers through the cum on Lotor’s chest and licks it away from his fingers.

Lotor darts up from his place on the bed and wraps his arms around Matt pulling him down against him on the bed and hugs him tightly. Matt loves the little giggle Lotor gives him and he buries his face in Lotor’s neck. He pulls out slowly and disposes of the condom.

Lotor remembers to turn the camera off and place it safely back on the charger before they fall asleep. 

Matt dozes against Lotor. He’s curled up on his side with his temple pressing into Lotor’s bicep, his arm and leg curled up over Lotor’s chest and hip. Lotor’s fingers twirl in Matt’s hair and brush over the sensitive skin at Matt’s neck.

“You’re amazing,” Lotor murmurs to him in the cool darkness. His abdomen is still slightly sticky with cum, but he apparently doesn’t care.

Matt caresses the inside of Lotor’s arm with his cheek and smiles, “So are you.”

Lotor lets a happy breath out through his nose, “I haven't cum like that… in a while. God, that was incredible.”

“It looked incredible,” Matt confirms.

A happy hum proceeds Lotor’s words, “I can’t wait to watch the video.”

Matt blushes and hides his face in his hand, “Oh my god… I can’t believe I did that.”

“You say that to yourself a lot, don’t you?” Lotor laughs.

Matt doesn’t realize it, but yeah… he does. 

“Maybe you should stop second-guessing yourself. Stop regretting the things you want,” Lotor’s voice is soft.

“Hm… yeah,” Matt plays his fingertips across Lotor’s skin and ponders his words.

Before they know it, their alarms are going off, breaking them from any semblance of sleep, telling them it’s time to start the day. While their eyes were closed, the sun had risen slowly and shone barely-there rays in through the curtains of Lotor’s room.

Lotor grimaces but raises up to turn his alarm off.

Matt squints his eyes and sits up letting the blanket fall into his lap. “I think… Today I want to skip class.”

Lotor laughs and grabs Matt into his arms again. “Stay with me!”

Matt laughs and lets himself fall back to sleep in Lotor’s arms. “I will.”

They don’t wake even when Keith finds Matt’s bag still out in the hallway and knocks on Lotor’s door. Keith apparently takes the no-answer as an answer and leaves the bag exactly where it is, possibly to stay for all eternity.


	16. Chapter 16

“God…” Lotor’s voice is breathy and impatient, “You’ve gotta stop doing that with your mouth. I can’t concentrate.”

It’s dark in Matt’s room, lit only by a dim lamp, their computer screens as they attempt to do anything that resembles homework, and the twinkle of green glow stars scattered on the ceiling. 

Matt stops and glares darkly through low lashes. “Just bear with it for a little while.”

Lotor groans under his gaze, “Please.. Matt... I can’t…” Lotor’s hand finds its way through his hair and pushes it back away from his face, “I hate that sound.”

“Sorry… I just do it when I’m concentrating.. I don’t really realize…” But he continues.

Lotor stares as Matt’s tongue attempts another try at stretching the gum in his mouth and lets out another tiny sound like air rushing quickly from a failed balloon. It’s been ten minutes effectively, and Lotor just can’t stand the sound of smacking gum and failed bubbles.

“Be honest with me… You can’t blow a bubble can you?”

Matt glares and lets his gum expand over pursed lips and deflate before there’s any semblance of a bubble. He points to his lips.

“What do you call that just now then?”

Lotor grins, “A failure.” Lotor takes the pack of gum from Matt’s desk and pops a piece in his mouth, “Here, let me show you.”

Matt watches with a cheeky, dark expression and crosses his arms. He watches Lotor’s lips part and his tongue stretches under the gum and softly blows up a perfect pink bubble. He lets it pop and smiles at Matt’s expression.

“Try it.”

Matt almost blushes while softening the gum with his tongue and blows, but it’s another failure.

Lotor giggles and instructs him again and again until Matt almost has it. His lips are adorable and soft looking. Probably incredibly sweet from the remnants of sugar stuck there. He wants to suck them into his mouth and lick the sweetness off slowly until Matt’s nothing but a puddle. But he patiently waits while Matt masters his new skill.

His brow furrows and he slowly blows a perfect bubble. Lotor pops it with his finger and laughs at Matt’s appalled expression.

“You did it! Do it again.”

Matt does and Lotor pops the bubble again, but this time it’s with his teeth. He licks into Matt’s mouth pushing the gum back inside and closes their mouths together with a hard kiss. 

Matt closes his eyes and his shoulders droop. Lotor’s mouth is busy over his lips and he’s a few heavy kisses in when he pushes Lotor away and leans over to let his gum fall into the trash bin next to his desk. Lotor keeps eye contact while copying his action. Matt laughs against his neck when Lotor picks him up walks him to the bed where they fall softly into the sheets and kiss until they're breathless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/RoseRoyaly/)   
> 

**Author's Note:**

> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/RoseRoyaly/)   
> 


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